To Live Again
by Iris Evergreen
Summary: When one Naruto who is tired of always being the protector and is broken beyond repair, finds comfort in his counterparts arms, another Naruto gains someone to love and protect, someone who will mend the cracks in his heart before they even form. This is Yaoi(Don't tell me I didn't warn you). There will dimension jumping but no crossover.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello, I am back after a long time and I have a new story with me… Hope you like this one… Well if any of you are wondering, this is a Naruto dimension travel fan fiction, but it is not a crossover.**_

 _ **And if any of you are reading my other stories, don't worry I have no intention of abandoning them. I will update all of them soon.**_

 _ **Warning: Oh and this will be**_ _ **yaoi,**_ _ **so if any of you have as problem with that, don't bother reading.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Chapter 1: A Second Chance**

* * *

" **Please… Give him a second chance."**

A gruff voice pleaded.

" _ **He is not a demon my friend. As much as I wish to help you, without him being a demon, what you as ask for would not be possible."**_

The grey eyes of the God of time and space met with the ruby red ones of the Kyubi no kitsune.

" **He may not be a demon, but I have claimed him as my own. And as such, he shall receive the same privileges as any other demon."** The Kyubi said in a determined tone.

" _ **I see… So you have no intention of backing down from this… You do know the price for what you demand, don't you?"**_

The Kyubi didn't even flinch. She has lived long enough and if her life was the price for Naruto to get a second chance, she would be more than glad to sacrifice it.

" **I do… and I am willing to pay the price."**

Silence prevailed for some time.

" _ **So it shall be. Uzumaki Naruto shall get another chance at life and as the price of this, the Kyubi no kitsune shall exist no more."**_

Kyubi sighed in relief and pain. Having your entire existence erased was frightening but it was as sacrifice that Kyubi was willing to make.

" **Thank you."**

Grey eyes softened as it gazed at the form of one of its oldest friends.

" _ **Farewell old friend…"**_

Kyubi nodded its head with as sad smile. Both their eyes move to look at the unconscious form of the young man on the mindscape. Golden blond hair that was slowly fading to red at the ends and eyes closed hiding sapphire orbs. A well chiseled face, a bit feminine due to the Kyubi's influence. A lithe body with unmarred smooth tan skin. This was Naruto Uzumaki; at least this was how he looked before Madara had caught him.

Tortured by Madara to the point of breaking, Naruto was scarred in body and mind. Kyubi knew, it was only a matter of time before Naruto lost whatever sanity he had left and Kyubi would be dead before she let that happen.

If any one deserved as second chance at life, it was Naruto and she will make sure that he gets it.

The god moved towards the unconscious form and placed as withered hand on the youth's fore head.

" _ **May the fates be kinder to you this time my child."**_

The mindscape trembled as time and space bend to the will of its God.

" **Goodbye kit. Where ever you end up, know that I will always love you."**

A lone tear slid down the Kyubi's face.

And with that Naruto Uzumaki vanished from that realm of existence.

The God turned to face his friend. The Kyubi met God's solemn gaze and nodded.

The God placed his hand on the Kyubi's bowed head. With a heart wrenching roar of pain, the Kyubi disintegrated into burning ember that then fused with the God.

* * *

Outside the mindscape Madara looked on in barely concealed horror as the Kyubi jinchuuriki's form faded and then entirely vanished from sight during the middle of the extracting process. The statue containing the other eight tailed beasts shakes and yokai began flowing out in uncontrolled waves of power.

In an explosion of massive energy, what remained of the Akatsuki and the elemental nations were destroyed. The era of ninjas came to an end. A new world will be reborn in time, from the ashes of as broken world.

* * *

 _ **Review your opinions on the fanfic please.**_

 _ **I would appreciate it very much.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Well here is chapter 2. Hope you enjoy this.**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I am really glad you like it.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**_

 _ **Don't forget this is a yaoi fan fiction.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Chapter 2: A New World**

Everything hurt... he wanted to open his eyes, but did it matter? Did it matter if he just closed his eyes forever?  
No, it didn't. Not when all had been lost, not when he was the only one left alive...death is better than having to endure this torture. He had long since given up.  
Madara had taken everything from him, his precious people, his friends, his chakra, his hope, his pride... everything. What was the point of living anymore?  
Even Kurama seemed to be gone. Madara had sealed of the contact between Naruto and Kurama the first day after he had been captured.  
He had tried to remain strong but after two months of torture even he was breaking. Being unable to talk to or even sense Kurama had mentally weakened him. Madara had taken his revenge for all that Naruto had done to hinder his plans.  
And in the end, all that was left of him was a broken shell.

 **"chanc- "**  
 _ **"-possible"**_  
He could here words in the distance, coming closer and closer.  
One voice was familiar. Was this another one of Madara's ploys? Another attempt at breaking him?  
If so Madara should know that it was useless, because there was nothing left to break.  
But as the voices became clear, his heart skipped a beat.  
Kurama?!

He had not dared to hope for a long time. But now hearing her voice...  
It was Kurama's voice.  
She was here? She was with him? Who is she talking to?  
Naruto wanted to sob and run to her. Bury himself in her fur and cry his heart out as he had done so many times during the war when he had to stay strong and not let his friends see his tears.  
Kurama was his biggest strength.

 **"I do. And I am willing to pay the price."**  
What is she talking about? What price? Why does she sound so solemn?  
He didn't understand why but his heart seized up in a sudden panic.  
He wanted to call out to her and make sure that she wasn't doing anything foolish. That she wasn't going away again.

 _"_ _ **So**_ _ **it**_ _ **shall**_ _ **be**_ _._ _ **Uzumaki**_ _ **Naruto**_ _ **shall**_ _ **get**_ _ **another**_ _ **chance**_ _ **at**_ _ **life**_ _ **and**_ _ **as**_ _ **a**_ _ **result**_ _ **you**_ _ **Kyubi**_ _ **no**_ _ **kitsune**_ _ **shall**_ _ **exist**_ _ **no**_ _ **more**_."  
What?!  
No...  
No...  
No no no no...

He knew what she was doing... Had once told him herself about the ritual that was necessary for someone to be given a second chance at life. The willing sacrifice of another person's entire existence was the price that the ritual demanded. It was always a gamble, one could never predict where the other would end up, even the god who sends them away would only know after it happened.  
Kurama, Kura chan please don't do it.

Don't leave me. I don't want a second chance I just want you with me. Please Kura chan please...  
He desperately wanted to open his mouth to yell at her. But his body refused to react.  
Please Kura chan  
He yelled inside his mind. He felt trapped inside his body.

 _"_ _ **Farewell old friend."**_  
No.  
 _"_ _ **May the fates be kinder to you this time my child**_ _"_

No... Please whoever you are please I just want to be with Kura chan. I don't want anything else. I don't want a second chance. I don't deserve a second chance.

" **Goodbye kit. Where ever you end up, know that I will always love you."**  
Please Kura chan. I just want to be with you. He sobbed. There is nothing left for me Kura chan. don't leave me please.

 _ **'If anyone deserves a second chance... it is you Naruto. And I will make sure you get it even if I have to sacrifice my life for it.'**_  
Her voice rang inside his mind. He knew they were her thoughts, words that didn't need to be said aloud.  
The conviction in her voice, the unconditional love, only further broke him.  
One more person he failed to protect.  
One more precious person sacrificed for him.

 _ **Child...**_  
That voice... the same one that Kurama was speaking to.

 _ **Kurama has sacrificed herself entire existence for you...**_

I don't deserve her sacrifice.  
 _ **Do not let her sacrifices go to waste...**_  
I let them die. They died because of me. Why?! Why did you take away Kurama too?

 _ **Remember, you may have lost them, but their love for you still lives. If you cannot live for yourself, live for them...**_  
 _ **Move on because they want you too.**_

Live for them? I don't want to live. I just want to be with them.  
Please...

 _ **Your life as Uzumaki Naruto ends here my child... That identity belongs to another now... Do not forget...Uzumaki Arashi...from now on that's who you are... Uzumaki Arashi...**_

Darkness crept upon his senses.  
Before everything went black he heard her voice again.  
 _ **No matter where you are I will always love you kit... Always...**_  
I will always love you ka-chan. I will never forget you.

* * *

"Sensei, I have the DNA test results. I am afraid that your doubts were right."

Hiruzen sighed looking at the face of his only remaining student in Konoha.

"I see. Did the boy wake up yet?"

"No Sensei he is still unconscious. Inoichi san did the mental evaluation you asked for. The results are not good. He says that the boy was tortured to the point that the boy's own subconscious had to suppress his memories in order to keep him sane. So the boy might not remember much on waking up."

Hiruzen grimaced. Was this **his** form of revenge on those who had died? Creating a child from their DNA and torturing that child for **his** own sick pleasure? Hiruzen wondered if it was the same boy who he once considered as a son that had become this monster.

"How old is the boy?" Hiruzen asked quietly dreads swelling up in his gut.

"Five, sensei"

Hiruzen wanted to sob for the boy; he had suffered so much in such as short time of life. And in a way it was Hiruzen's fault. Hiruzen was blinded by his adoration for his prodigy student, he disregarded the darkness inside the boy and neglected his other students.

"Inoichi san didn't see any of the boy's memories because he said that would cause the suppressed memories to resurface and if that happens there is as high chance that the boy would lose his sanity."

"Inform me when the boy wakes up... Did the boy have a name?"

"No. His files had mentioned him as TS: 16. Probably meaning test subject 16. That also means that fifteen others had been experimented on. Chances are that none of them survived."

Hiruzen nodded grimly.

"I see... You may leave now Orochimaru."

Orochimaru watched as the man that was his sensei and hokage sink down in his sorrow. Having nothing else to say to his teacher, he exited the hokage office.

Once his student left, Hiruzen gazed at the Hokage Mountain. The face of his successor looking down at the village he gave his life to protect.

Hiruzen found that he no longer had the courage to look at that face any longer; not without remembering all the times he had failed the man and his legacy.

"I am sorry Minato... I have failed you... I have failed your child and now my blindness has destroyed yet another life. I couldn't stop my own student from defiling you and your wife's graves." Hiruzen let out as humorless chuckle.

"What a Hokage I am..." Hiruzen closed his eyes a lone tear sliding down his face unseen by anyone.

* * *

 **"** He's waking up, now."

He heard as his senses slowly returned to him.

"He woke up sometime earlier but was not really coherent and slipped right back into sleep. But I think he'll stay awake longer this time." The same voice said.

"Thank you." Another voice said, "You may leave now... Hawk inform the hokage that the boy woke up."

This voice... It was familiar and it was terrifying. Suddenly he wished he didn't wake up.

He opened his eyes in panic; he didn't want to be alone with the owner of the familiar voice. He tried to speak but his throat was sore and voice shattered.

"N-No."

His vision was blurred and somebody was by his side in an instant.

"Shhh... It's alright. Calm down... It's alright." He flinched violently when cold familiar hands held him gently.

But the man holding him ignored it and gently let his chakra enter the boy's system to sooth the frazzled nerves into calming down so that the boy wouldn't go into panic.

As the panic subsided the boy looked up at the man who was holding him and frowned. Fear forgotten in his confusion.

The man had long black hair and golden eyes with very pale skin. On the first look, he could be mistaken for a woman. But he was most definitely a man. His voice and the flat chest he was leaning against, was proof enough for that.

The sight of the man terrified the boy, but the warmth he saw in his eyes and the feel of his calming chakra was both comforting and disconcerting, like it was unusual. For some reason he expected the man to throw him down on the floor and torture him while cackling like a hyena. But the concerned face peering down at him didn't seem capable of doing that at all.

"Are you alright now?"

The boy nodded slightly, still confused. The man took a glass of cold water from the table beside his bed.

"Here drink this."

He offered and placed the glass against his lips. The boy flinched again at the action. He looked rather unsure on whether or not to drink it, but the thirst got the best of him.

Orochimaru looked at the boy as he sat against his chest and drank the water. If the DNA test wasn't enough, the boy's looks were enough.

The boy had short golden blond hair slightly spiky with a few red strands mixed in, framing a cherubic face with wide eyes shaped like Kushina's and the colour of sapphire, bright and sparkling. The shape of his face was also from Kushina, it seems. The only thing he inherited from Minato seems to be his coloring; except the red strands in his hair, that was purely Kushina. He was a bit feminine looking but not to the point of being mistaken for a girl. His skin was a creamy white colour like Minato's instead of Kushina's tan. Anyone who had got a good look at Minato and Kushina would see the similarities. But this entire village was dumb when it came to that. After all, they never recognized Naruto as their son despite the boy being a carbon copy of his Father with some of his mother's features.

This boy was the son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato. Son may not be the technical term but Orochimaru refused to address the boy as something else.

He stopped his observations when he saw that the boy was looking at him. He seemed a whole lot of nervous and somewhat scared. It was normal, seeing as even with the memories being suppressed the trauma he went through was too large to not leave any damage.

"My name is Orochimaru." He introduced himself.

The kid flinched violently, trying to move away from him, but both of them were confused by the sudden terror that took over the boy at hearing the name.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you. I promise." He said gently.

The boy looked at him wide scared eyes and he felt sympathy towards the boy. So he stood up and moved away from the boy.

The boy looked confused now.

"If you are scared of me, I won't come near you till you feel comfortable enough with me." He said softly.

The boy lowered his head and nodded.

"Do you remember anything?"

The boy looked thoughtful, then frowned. Panic seems to be taking over again, but Orochimaru let his chakra reach out to the boy without moving from his spot. The boy calmed down once again.

"On-only m-my Name."

Orochimaru nodded. "That's good." He smiled encouragingly. "So what is your name?"

The boy raised his head to look at the man. The soft smile on his face inspired some awe in the boy, because something told him that this man never smiled like that.

"Arashi... Arashi Uzumaki." The boy said softly.

* * *

 _ **Did this chapter make any sense to you? I think it was a bit confusing…Obviously Orochimaru wasn't the student that turned evil. So then who was it? Who do you think it is?**_

 _ **I love good Orochimaru stories.**_

 _ **If it was too confusing, I am sorry. But I promise things will make sense in the next chapter. I hope…**_

 _ **Oh and reviews, follows and favorites are appreciated.**_

 _ **Thanks to all those who did review.**_

 _ **See ya next time.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hello, I am back again. I am updating this rather frequently don't you think? I should probably pay some more attention to my other fics as well…**_

 _ **Anyway, read on…**_

 _ **Oh and the usual, I don't own Naruto.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Chapter 3: Familiar yet New**

* * *

"Why… Why can't I remember anything else, Orochimaru san?"

The boy asked timidly with his head bowed.

Orochimaru didn't look up from where he was slicing the apple.

"I am sorry Arashi kun… but I don't know."

"Oh." Arashi said softly.

"Here, eat this." Orochimaru offered the sliced apple to Arashi.

Arashi was hesitant but took it anyway. Orochimaru could see that Arashi really didn't want to do it. But the boy was scared that Orochimaru would hurt him if he didn't obey. Orochimaru sighed.

"You know… I am not going to hurt you."

Arashi only lowered his head further.

Orochimaru sighed again. A knock on the door interrupted whatever Orochimaru was going to say. Orochimaru already knew that it was the hokage outside. They had already discovered that coming in to the room unannounced would send Arashi into panic.

Arashi looked at the door in trepidation. He couldn't understand why, but everything scared him and it was frustrating; being scared without even knowing why you are scared, or what you are scared of.

The door opened slowly and an old man entered. Arashi looked at the man.

The sight of the aged man triggered some warmth inside him. The old man was smiling. Arashi just ducked his head.

"Hello there." the old man said to Arashi. Hiruzen nodded at Orochimaru, who bowed in respect to his teacher and hokage.

When the boy didn't reply, Hiruzen sat down on a chair near the bed.

"My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. And I am the sandaime hokage."

 _ **Jiji**_

 _ **Get ready jiji, am gonna take that hat from you soon.**_

 _ **I am going to become hokage!**_

Arashi shook his head confused. What was that voice?

Orochimaru and Hiruzen looked at the boy who seemed to have spaced out. Then the boy shook his head as if to clear his head. Maybe his memories were returning? That may not be such a good thing considering what the boy had gone through.

Orochimaru looked at the clock on the wall.

"Mmm… I better go. It's lunch time already. Would you like me to bring anything for you Arashi?"

Arashi shook his head. Not because he didn't trust the man, but because he didn't want to bother the man. He didn't understand why the man scared him, but he knew that man haven't been anything but nice to him since he woke up so he trusted man and he could sense that the man was sincere. Don't ask him how. He could just sense it.

Orochimaru tilted his head, "I'll bring you some ramen. I have a pretty good guess that you'd love it." He ignored the boy's protests.

"Well, Orochimaru when you come back maybe you could bring a friend. I am sure Arashi would like someone close to his age." Hiruzen said sending Orochimaru a look that he understood well.

Orochimaru nodded his head and left.

* * *

Naruto looked at ground. His scarlet hair hiding his eyes.

He was standing in front of the orphanage matron, who was scolding him for being a nuisance according to her. All he ever did was asking her if she had some food, because she had refused to let him have a meal last night and this morning.

"You will not be given any food; this is punishment for being such a nuisance."

Naruto stood silently. The other kids laughed at him. But he refused to cry. He was seven year old and the future hokage of leaf village, he couldn't cry because of something stupid like this.

The lady smirked after she had done verbally beating the demon, that's all she could do seeing as any physical attempt at harming the boy would be considered a crime. She turned around in glee, only to freeze as she gazed to cold golden eyes that seemed to see into her soul.

"O-Orochimaru sama! I-I was just-"

"Save your pathetic explanation for someone who cares. I know exactly what you were doing."

Naruto looked up at Orochimaru. He was glad the man was here. Orochimaru always helped him when he needed it. In fact other than the hokage, he was the only one who deliberately tried to treat him nice.

The orphanage matron was sweating under Orochimaru's stare. It wasn't even a glare.

But everyone at the orphanage knew how taken Orochimaru was to the demon child. And if it wasn't for the council's order on no one adopting the boy, Orochimaru would've long since become the boy's father, legally that it. Because to Naruto, Orochimaru was already his father. But Orochimaru was a busy man and often had no time for the boy. He made time whenever he could though; like right now.

"Oro-chan!" Naruto called out in surprise.

Orochimaru sighed; he never really got to make Naruto stop calling him that.

"Such disrespect!" one of the orphanage workers hissed but shut up when Orochimaru gave him a pointed glare.

"Hello Naru. How are you?" Orochimaru asked with a smile that he reserved for only Naruto or perhaps Arashi too now.

"I missed you." Naruto tackled the raven haired man into a hug, which Orochimaru whole heartedly accepted.

"How was your last mission? Did you fight cool ninjas? Did you save a princess? Huh?"

"I'll tell you all about it over some ramen. So what do you say?" Orochimaru said ignoring the grumbling orphanage workers. He really needed to get the boy out of the orphanage or something drastic may happen the next time Orochimaru goes on a long mission.

Orochimaru left the orphanage with a giggling Naruto hanging off of his arm. Naruto kept talking a mile per hour and Orochimaru listened.

This was what Naruto loved the most about the black haired man; he listened to him instead of ignoring him like all the other adults.

Once they reached the ramen stand, Naruto yelled out for the owner and ran into the small establishment with glee. Orochimaru stood watching all this with an endearing smile. He often wondered why he felt so protective of the younger boy, especially after how hurt he had been over Kushina. It was simply a duty at first, Kushina had told him, no pleaded him to watch over her son, on her deathbed. And even though the woman had hurt him Orochimaru wasn't cold hearted enough to ignore the last wishes of a dying woman, so he did it.

But soon the redhead grew on Orochimaru's cold heart and Orochimaru remembered the panic attack he had the first time Naruto had been attacked. He had almost summoned Manda and razed the village to the ground to find the bastards that attacked Naruto. It was Hiruzen who calmed him down and that was the first time Orochimaru had ever raised his voice against his sensei and Hiruzen had got a very good verbal beating from his student for being careless in Naruto's protection details.

"Come on Oro chan… or I'll eat your ramen too."

Orochimaru chuckled hearing Naruto's proclamation and sat down besides Naruto on the stool.

"AH, Orochimaru Sama, back from the mission?" Teuchi; the ramen shop owner said in greeting.

Orochimaru nodded at the man, "Yeah…"

"Will you be having the usual or our special?" Ayame asked.

"Special?" Orochimaru asked, from the corner of his eye he saw Naruto brightening up at the mention of the special.

"We'll both be having the special then." Orochimaru turned towards Naruto "How does that sound Naruto?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. Orochimaru smiled.

"Alright two Uzumaki Special, coming right up." Ayame said giggling.

"Uzumaki special? They named it after you?" Orochimaru looked at Naruto.

Naruto ducked his head bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck, "it was Ayame-nee's idea."

Orochimaru chuckled and turned towards Ayame. "Ayame, make that four Uzumaki special and we'll take the ramen to go."

"EH? You won't be eating here?" Ayame and Teuchi asked confused since they ate here most of the time.

Naruto looked confused as well.

"Well, we'll be eating with a friend today." Orochimaru said. He could see that Naruto was apprehensive about meeting someone new.

"He's in the hospital and would like some company." Orochimaru said. He knew Naruto wasn't fond of the hospital since they held the reminders of some bad memories so he wanted to let Naruto know where they were going before taking him there.

* * *

Naruto was slightly nervous as he stood outside the hospital room. He didn't like hospitals.

Orochimaru knocked on the door lightly. And opened the door after he heard a light 'come in'. Naruto perked up on hearing the voice, jiji was inside? Was jiji the friend that was hurt? Oh god what was wrong with jiji?

Orochimaru opened the door and looked at Naruto who looked horrified all of a sudden. Before he could say anything, Naruto rushed into the room with a loud cry of **'JIJI'.**

Hiruzen and Orochimaru were confused, Arashi was very startled and slightly scared and Naruto was frantic.

"Jiji are you alright? What happened to you? Who hurt you? Tell me and I'll-"

Naruto was confused about why jiji and Orochimaru started chuckling all of a sudden.

"I am not hurt Naruto." Hiruzen said chuckling.

"Eh? Then why are you here? Are you here to visit the Oro-Chan's friend?"

Orochimaru sighed miserably and Hiruzen laughed even more hearing Orochimaru's nickname. No matter how many times he heard it, it never gets old.

"Yes Naruto. Because he is my friend too."

Naruto looked at both adults and then his gaze fell on the little boy on the hospital bed. The boy had golden blonde hair with red highlights and sparkling blue eyes. He was pretty cute and smaller than Naruto.

Seeing Naruto observing him, Arashi did the same. Naruto had pretty scarlet red hair that just touched his shoulders. The hair slightly spiky like his own and stayed in stylish disarray, a few strands falling over his left eye. He had deep amethyst colored eyes and lightly tanned skin and all in all was a good looking boy. Then he had three whiskers like scars on each cheek. (Naruto was a mini- Minato with Kushina's coloring.)

Arashi unconsciously brought a hand to his cheeks and frowned when something sparked in his brain but couldn't understand what.

Arashi felt a pounding in his head; his whole head throbbed in pain. He yelped in pain suddenly.

Orochimaru and Hiruzen were by his side in an instant.

"Arashi!" Orochimaru called out when the boy began screaming in pain.

Naruto looked on with wide eyes. What was wrong with the boy?

Nurses and doctors ran into the room and tried to restrain the thrashing boy.

* * *

"He's going to be alright Naruto, don't cry."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at Orochimaru who stood beside him confused. Then he brought his hands to his face and was surprised to find it wet.

 _I was crying? Why was I crying?_ Naruto wondered not even knowing when he had started crying.

Naruto watched as Orochimaru talked to the hokage about something. The doctors had rushed the three of them out of the room.

Some nurses passing by him gave him a nasty look.

'He probably did something to the poor kid.' One nurse whispered glaring at him. Naruto flinched when he heard it. He hated how he could hear better than the others.

'Yeah… Maybe the demon did it because the boy looks like the yondaime. The demon hates him after all.' Another one joined in.

'That poor boy'

Naruto could guess who they were talking about.

"Is this what you're being paid to do?" A voice hissed behind the nurses.

The nurses were surprised to find Orochimaru glaring at them. He was already stressed about Arashi and now these stupid women dare insult Naruto. He was pretty sure that Naruto heard what the nurses said.

The nurses scrambled away from the pissed off sannin.

Orochimaru moved towards Naruto who had his head bowed and Orochimaru knew that the boy was crying.

"Don't mind what those-"

Orochimaru's eyes widened. That chakra!

He snapped his head back towards Arashi's room. Beside him Hiruzen did the same. Naruto was confused and looked towards where the two of them were looking.

Just in time the door break apart from the hinjes and a doctor and nurse being thrown out of the room towards the wall.

* * *

 **Well, I hope I made clear about how Naruto looks. Basically he has Minato's physique with Kushina's coloring, whereas Arashi is the opposite. Arashi will be regaining his memory just not right now.**

 **And who do you think I should pair Orochimaru with? Jiraya and Tsunade are out of the option, I don't care if he is paired with a guy or lady. Tell me what you all think.**

 **I read all the reviews and I am very happy that you all reviewed.**

 **Thank you folks**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Hello guys, here is a new chapter, hope you like it._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…_**

 ** _Enjoy…_**

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Uzumaki Ancestry**

* * *

Everyone present watched in awe at the sight.

"Adamantine chains…" A ninja standing near them whispered in awe. All of them knew of only one ninja capable of creating the chains and that ninja had died seven years ago.

Orochimaru and Hiruzen felt a pang in their hearts as they saw the familiar golden chains coiling in the air.

"He's an Uzumaki…" Someone said amazed.

"Not just any Uzumaki, idiot! Only those from the royal line have the sacred bloodline!" Another said. The Uzumaki Sacred bloodline; the Uzumaki chakra manipulation was the only other bloodline other than the Sharingan and the wood release, which has the power to subdue the biju. It was also a very strong bloodline.

"Is he related to Kushina sama?" Hiruzen heard a nurse standing by whisper. He cursed under his breath; this news would be known throughout the village by evening. He had managed to keep the council off Arashi's case till now, but if news about the chains reaches them, there would be no stopping them.

Orochimaru was thinking along the same lines. He watched as the chains kept everyone away from the boy who was sobbing and crying. His cries were truly heart shattering. But no one could get close enough to Arashi with the chains present.

"Hey you, Stand back!" Someone said to his left and Orochimaru looked towards the direction.

His heart froze for a moment when he saw Naruto on the direct path of a chain that would hit him head on. His horror however turned into amazement as the chain stopped centimeters away from hitting Naruto.

Naruto took one more step forward and the chain moved away, letting him through. It was almost as if the chains saw him as a friend?

Then it clicked, of course, Naruto was an Uzumaki.

Kushina had told him once about how the Uzumaki's were all connected by their chakra.

Everyone watched surprised as the chains that violently held them back from the boy earlier, gave way to Naruto.

Naruto had no idea what he was doing but he was guided by some instinct to go forward and comfort the crying boy.

"No… No… Please don't…"

Naruto tried to remember the boy's name, "Arashi…" He said softly as he reached the boy's bed.

Arashi was thrashing in his bed, moving his hands as if to fight off some invisible enemy.

Naruto stood uncertain for a moment, what should he do now?

"Stop… Please I beg you… just stop…"

Naruto placed a hand on Arashi's shoulder uncertainly and Arashi leaned into him; he didn't fight his touch like Naruto had expected. So with a new found confidence Naruto pulled Arashi into a hug.

Arashi crumpled against his chest still sobbing pleas to stop. Naruto never realized that he himself was crying, but everyone else who was watching did.

"Shh… It's alright… I'm here, I'll protect you… No one's going to hurt you…"

Naruto had no idea what he was doing but it worked. Arashi's cries quieted down.

"I promise I'll protect you…" Naruto cooed again.

"You…promise?"

Naruto looked down surprised at the words to find Arashi staring at him with those blue eyes glazed over, making it clear that he was not really conscious.

Naruto nodded, "I Promise…"

Arashi smiled at him, a soft sad yet hopeful smile, and Naruto felt his heart clench.

"Please… don't leave me… nii san…" Then Arashi buried his head into Naruto's chest and fell limp as his struggle left him.

Naruto was dumbstruck while looking down at the sleeping boy.

"I won't…" He said even though Arashi was already unconscious.

Everyone was watching the scene in awe.

Most of them started to rethink about their opinion on the redhead. Would a demon really do this? And they all know about the chakra chain's ability to subdue biju, so if the chains didn't harm Naruto, doesn't that mean that he's not a demon?

As soon as Arashi was unconscious the chains dissipated into wisps of golden energy that soon vanished. And the Uzumaki special chakra that they all had sensed earlier once again vanished from their senses.

* * *

"Hiruzen, you better tell me who exactly this Arashi is."

Hiruzen only sat there watching his friend quietly.

Danzo had his one good eye narrowed as he looked at his friend for an explanation.

Danzo cursed out loud, quite uncharacteristic of him; if anyone except Hiruzen was the one witnessing it. To Hiruzen, his friend cursing him out whenever he had to clean up after Hiruzen was a characteristic occurrence.

"Hiruzen goddammit! The whole council already knows about the kid and his bloodline. And if I hadn't managed to keep them down, the whole village would've known by now. There are already crazy theories going on in the council about Kushina being alive and having a child in secret. Some even say that he is a child of Kushina and Minato." Danzo paced the room impatiently. He heard Hiruzen snort at the last statement.

"Wouldn't be too far from the truth…"

Danzo looked wide eyed, "What the fuck are you saying Hiruzen? EXPLAIN… NOW!"

Hiruzen sighed, not wanting to provoke his raging friend any further.

"He did it…" Hiruzen said with closed eyes.

"He?" Danzo had a pretty good guess about who this 'he' was, but he needed confirmation, not assumptions.

"Who else? My star pupil of course..." Hiruzen chuckled mirthlessly "My Pride and Joy…" There was no pride in his words, only bitterness and guilt.

"Kabuto…" Danzo whispered,

"What did he do Hiruzen?" Danzo asked calmly.

* * *

Naruto was sitting beside Arashi.

The doctors had let him stay, because Arashi, though unconscious, started thrashing around when Naruto got too far from him. The doctors finally agreed that it would be best to let Naruto stay with the boy.

It was only the afternoon, but Naruto suddenly felt drowsy. Usually, he was a very energetic boy, afternoon naps were not his thing. But today his eyelids felt heavy as he tried to blink away the sleep.

Naruto was asleep even before he knew it.

Dark grey mist swirled around the room and an old man materialized among the mist. He was wearing white robes, his skin was wrinkled and he had long white beard along with a head full of snow white hair. His eyes were jet black and they fell up on the forms of the sleeping boys.

He moved forward so that he stood besides Arashi and placed a palm on the boy's forehead gently.

Memories filtered through his vision. Memories of a village that no longer existed, memories of friends that had died to protect, memories of happiness that had been so brutally ripped apart, memories of pain and anguish… Memories of a hero that had been worn down by the darkness of his world.

"Not yet my child…" The old man whispered gently, "The time has not yet arrived for you to remember."

Arashi's struggles ceased as the memories that were torturing him were swept back into the depths of his mind and were put to rest… for now.

"Your memories will return, but only after you have known and accepted this world… I will not have you judge this world through eyes haunted by pain... I will not have you suffer another lifetime my boy. The blessings of the Divine shall stay with you and both of you will not be alone again."

With that, the man vanished, with the anbu guards being none the wiser.

Arashi curled into Naruto's side; a small smile blooming on both their faces unknowingly.

* * *

"Orochimaru had always expressed his doubts on Kabuto… But I simply ignored it." Hiruzen said sadly.

"It's not really your fault Hiruzen. Although I believe you were an idiot for taking on only creepy or crazy kids as your students; Kabuto was a very convincing actor. Even his father didn't know the depth of the boy's darkness until he had got a kunai shoved up his gut." Danzo said matter-of-factly. Hiruzen gave him an exasperated look. But continued on with his explanation.

"When you bought me the clues about the missing children and all, I began watching Kabuto more closely. I even had Jiraya look up Kabuto's connections outside Konoha. And the news I found was disconcerting. So I had Orochimaru have one of his summons trail Kabuto. We got the location of an underground lab."

Danzo's eyes widened, "An underground lab? How come I didn't know of this? All I knew is that Kabuto was behind the kidnappings and escaped during his detaining."

"I was planning on telling you, but then you got caught on the daimyo's case."

Danzo nodded frowning.

"What happened in the lab?"

"It was horrible. He experimented on most of the children, a lot of them were already dead when we got there and the others were… well they were beyond recovery."

Danzo nodded grimly. Hiruzen began speaking again,

"Then we found some files…" He clenched his hands, "Apparently Kabuto had collected the DNA of all the previous hokage and as well as some important bloodline holders in the village, including Uzumaki Kushina. He wanted to create a child capable of using all the bloodlines, but only one was successful."

Danzo's eyes widened in realization, "Arashi…"

"Yes… But according to the files, Arashi rejected all other DNA's other than Kushina's and Minato's."

"So basically, he is a child created from Minato and Kushina's DNA…"

Hiruzen nodded, "Kabuto wasn't satisfied with just treating the boy like a lab rat… He tortured him."

Danzo was silent… Kabuto had hatred for Minato from the start. Minato had taken both the hokage seat and Kushina, from him. He took it out on a boy created from their genes. A very good thing that Naruto's parentage wasn't known to the boy, although Danzo was sure that Kabuto had a good guess.

"What do you plan on telling the council?" Danzo asked.

Hiruzen looked hopefully at Danzo and Danzo sighed, "Fine. I'll take care of it. But I must know; is there a chance of Arashi having the Namikaze bloodline as well?"

Hiruzen shook his head unsure; even Kabuto's files had no more information on that matter.

"I'll see what I can do… " Danzo said as he stood up.

An anbu appeared and bowed to the two of them, "The clan heads have requested for a council meeting, Hokage sama."

Hiruzen and Danzo sighed.

* * *

Orochimaru entered the hospital room that evening; till now he had been busy taking care of the staff who had witnessed the chakra chains earlier.

He took in the sight of Arashi and Naruto cuddling each other. It was pretty cute.

He moved over to the chair beside the bed. It was strange seeing Naruto asleep during the evening like this. That boy was usually a limitless bundle of energy.

As he sat down and waited for the boys to wake up, he observed Arashi. He was pretty sure that some; if not all, of Arashi's memory had resurfaced. And if that was the case, he dreaded the state of the boy's mind when he wakes up.

It was then that he felt two familiar presences outside the room.  
Hiruzen and Danzo entered the room. Hiruzen smiled at the sight of the boys and Danzo was busy observing Arashi, the boy was the perfect mix of the Uzumaki and Namikaze genes, just like Naruto.

"How was the meeting?" Orochimaru asked them. Hiruzen gave a sly smirk and looked at Danzo, who looked rather smug. Orochimaru looked at the both of them amused.

"The result was good I presume." Orochimaru said as Hiruzen and Danzo sat down.

"It depends… Orochimaru, how do you like to play babysit?" Hiruzen asked amused.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the two and then looking back at Arashi, he sighed.

"So you convinced the council to let Arashi stay with me…"

Danzo smirked; "Arashi and Naruto…"

"Come again!" Orochimaru said surprised; eyes wide.

"Danzo here convinced the council to let you take care of both Arashi and Naruto." Hiruzen chuckled.

"But how? The council always denied my request to take in Naruto…" Orochimaru whispered still shocked.

"Arashi was the turning factor actually. He, having the Uzumaki bloodline made him a celebrity of sorts. We managed to convince the council that Arashi needed to stay with someone who he trusts in order to help improve his mental state and it was obvious that the people he trusted included the Hiruzen, you or Naruto. Since Hiruzen had his hokage duties to pay attend to, the only choice was you." Danzo explained.

"That's understandable, but how did you convince them to let Naruto stay with me as well?"

"We saw how Naruto was able to calm Arashi down when his chakra went wild. So we argued that Naruto and Arashi being together would help Arashi with his mental state and help keep the Kyubi's influence off of Naruto." Hiruzen said.

Orochimaru nodded. It seems the arrival of Arashi was a blessing to all of them.

"What about when I go on missions?" Orochimaru asked.

"I am sure that the boys could handle themselves, for sometime…" Danzo said.

"But I sometimes have missions that extend up to months." Orochimaru deadpanned.

"Oh I am sure you can arrange someone then." Hiruzen waved it off.

Orochimaru sighed and then he frowned in thought, "Does the council know about Arashi being Kushina and Minato's?"

"No" Danzo said.

"We gave a cover story that Arashi was the son of Kushina's twin brother and that his mother was an unknown female of the Namikaze clan." Hiruzen explained.

"It is prudent that no one knows that Arashi is the result of an experiment nor him being of Kushina and Minato, but his clan status had to be revealed since there is also a chance that he might show the Namikaze bloodline. The Uzumaki bloodline is proof that he is from the Uzumaki royal line, which would also prove that one of his parents was from the royal line."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement. "Other than Kushina, only her twin brother fits the role. And this unknown Namikaze female? Did the council really buy that?"

Danzo nodded, "Since the Namikaze clan was originally from Mist village and had scattered to the winds after the shinobi war started it is not hard to believe that the Namikaze have members wandering around. After all, Minato's parents were one such wandering family."

"But you do know that there is high chance that Naruto might also have the bloodline, right?" Orochimaru asked.

Danzo and Hiruzen looked at eachother surprised, they had honestly forgot that fact.

"But Naruto didn't show the bloodline till date, so maybe the demon chakra is suppressing his bloodline." Danzo said frowning.

"No," Orochimaru said, "The bloodlines only activate when the child from the royal line achieve maturity. Naruto is still not mature enough, but that means that Arashi is. And I am sure that Naruto would show the bloodline."

"Why so sure?" Danzo asked.

Orochimaru frowned, "In the Uzumaki family, only one child from a parent of the royal line would ever have the bloodline. That is, even if Kushina had two or three children, only one would ever inherit the chakra chains. Since Kushina has only one child technically, Naruto will inherit the chakra chains. And any one who knows of this particular fact about Uzumaki will know that Naruto is also from the royal line and not some wandering Uzumaki survivor as we had made up. Earlier, when Naruto show the bloodline we could've passed it off as Naruto being the son of Kushina's twin, but now..."

Hiruzen frowned, "Since Kushina's twin apparently already have one child that inherited the chakra chains, he cannot have another child who have the chains."

Danzo cursed, "That leaves the possibility of only Kushina being Naruto's parent. And everyone knows about Kushina and Minato's blooming romance. It would only be a matter of time before everyone figured it out that Naruto is their son... But this is all if Naruto have the bloodline."

Orochimaru snorted, "Not 'if' Danzo, 'when'. Because Naruto will have the bloodline if Kushina doesn't have another child that is. And as far as I know, she don't. But thankfully not many people know about this certain fact about the Uzumaki clan. But I am sure that some of the clan archives does mention it. And anyone who was close to the Uzumaki royal family would know as well."

Hiruzen frowned, "When is the typical age when the Uzumaki members achieve 'maturity'?"

"Excluding special cases like Arashi when children are forced to mature under certain 'situations', the Uzumaki bloodline shows up at the age of ten to thirteen." Orochimaru said.

"That's too soon. If the secret about his parentage gets out at that time, he won't be strong enough to protect himself from his parent's enemies. Not mention his jinchuuriki status puts an even bigger target on him." Danzo said calmly.

"Orochimaru..." Hiruzen began but Orochimaru cut him off before he could finish.

"I understand sensei. I'll start their training as soon as I can. Both of them will be in danger soon. In Arashi's case because of his bloodline and the fact that he is supposedly, the only surviving royal family heir."

They sighed. Everything was going too fast, they wished that the boys weren't put in such risks, so soon. But they all remembered how Kushina had been almost kidnapped because of her bloodline. Hiruzen often wondered why he listened to Minato's foolish wish to let everyone know that Naruto was the jinchuuriki.

Hiruzen looked silently at the two younger boys still sleeping; he felt a deep sorrow whenever he looked at Arashi. Just then, Arashi stirred. He opened his eyes blinking slowly and watched the three of them with glazed eyes; still not totally awake.

The three of them were apprehensive as they saw Arashi wake up.

When Arashi moved a little, Naruto woke up suddenly, shocked and worried. "Arashi?" He called softly looking at the younger boy.

Naruto looked around and his gaze fell on the three other individuals in the room.

"Jiji… Oro-chan… Danzo san" He greeted each of them relaxing when he saw that he and Arashi were in no danger. It was a habit for Naruto, to wake up suddenly when disturbed, years of being attacked while sleeping had created such a habit.

"Nii san…" Arashi looked at Naruto with his wide eyes unsure.

"Yes?" Naruto asked gently, smiling. The feeling of being called a big brother by someone was enthralling.

Arashi shook his head shyly, he felt right calling the boy as nii san, but the truth was that despite how close he felt to the boy and how much his entire being trusted the boy, he didn't know much about him.

"Wh-what's your name?" Arashi mumbled quietly.

Naruto heard it and his eyes widened, of course he had never got a chance to introduce himself to Arashi.

"Oh!... Uh, I am Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

Arashi looked clearly surprised, 'Uzumaki? Does that mean he is really related to me?'

Before he could say anything, he noticed that they were not alone. His sense must have been pretty jumbled if he didn't notice the three other individuals inside the room.

Arashi then looked at the other three occupants of the room. He recognized Orochimaru san and hokage san. But the third one, he didn't know. He was nervous about the newest person, but being held in Naruto's arms was a comforting feeling.

"Hello Arashi. My name is Shimura Danzo." Danzo said, smiling.

Arashi nodded giving the man a slight shy smile, but tightened his hold on Naruto, a little.

"Arashi…" Hiruzen began, "Do you remember what happened earlier?" He asked carefully. Seeing as the boy hadn't woke up panicked or crying, he was surprised.

Arashi frowned. Then he tried to remember what happened. He remembers meeting Naruto, then the pain… and then nothing.

"Arashi are you alright?" Naruto asked concerned. Arashi looked at Naruto surprised, there was an unmistakable connection between them; he wasn't sure if Naruto could feel it but Arashi sure did. It was like there was a string of energy connecting them together that made them sensitive to each other's feelings. Arashi was about to panic again, but Naruto's voice alone had anchored him. Arashi could feel the concern rolling off of Naruto in waves. Sure, he could feel the other people's emotions as well, but with Naruto there was more clarity and understanding.

He wondered if Naruto knew what he was doing.

"I remember seeing you nii san and then the pain… but after that I don't remember anything else."

The three older men frowned, but were relieved. Still, how come the boy's memories got suppressed again? Inoichi had warned them that if his memories resurface again, it would be hard to protect his mental state and they were all pretty sure that Arashi did have a flashback of his memories during that breakdown he had. Maybe luck was on Arashi's side this time…

"Naruto, Arashi…" Orochimaru called. Both boys looked at the man.

"How would the both of you like to live with me?" Orochimaru asked smiling.

Needless to say Naruto was shocked at first and then his happiness was beyond boundaries. Naruto almost yelled out a yes.

Arashi was unsure and skeptical, but he trusted the man and he trusted Naruto's choice and it's not like Arashi had much of a choice, so he nodded. With is memories gone, Arashi had no one to depend on other than the people he just met. But still, to be sure he analyzed whatever emotions he could sense from Orochimaru; he knew how to do it instinctually and all he found was happiness, relief and many other conflicted emotions but none of the negative emotions he felt were directed towards either him or his brother.

"Rashi kun, did you hear that? We are going to live with Oro chan from now on…" Naruto asked beaming with happiness.

It took a moment for Arashi to understand that, 'Rashi kun' was actually him. He smiled back at Naruto. There was deep welling protectiveness he felt towards Naruto, he wondered if it was normal for him to feel that towards the older boy. Wasn't it the older siblings that were supposed to be over protective? But then again, Arashi was sure that there was something strange going on with him; so he was not exactly normal to begin with. Arashi felt like an adult trapped in a child's body; but he had no idea why he felt like that either.

He heard Orochimaru grumble under his breath about how he was called 'chan' while Arashi gets called as 'kun'. They all heard that and everyone laughed, even Arashi gave a small chuckle.

Arashi was sure that he could get to the bottom of the mystery regarding his own self eventually. He didn't like being left out of the loop especially when he was somehow involved. Mean while, he was happy that the fear and panic he felt the first time he woke up, had faded to dulled warning bells in his mind. It was irritating whenever he felt the overwhelming fear without any reason.

All of them resumed talking ignorant of the watchful eyes.

The old man smiled watching the scene from the window, unseen by any one.

* * *

 ** _That's it for now._**

 ** _SO Arashi has the chakra chains and obviously the Uzumaki bloodline is almost revered as much as the wood release and sharingan in this dimension. And the Uzumaki is quite famous as well._**

 ** _And Danzo is good too..._**

 ** _Oh, if you didn't figure it out already, the old man is actually the god of space and time; the one who sent Arashi here. Also I would like to tell you that Kabuto is actually Hiruzen's fourth student. The sannin is still there; with Jiraya and Tsunade outside of Konoha._**

 ** _I hope I was clear about the whole Uzumaki bloodline thing._**

 ** _Hope you liked it._**

 ** _Review your opinions please… And thanks to those who did review._**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hello, this is the chapter I promised you today.**_

 _ **Like I announced in my other stories, I'll like to give you a heads up not to expect any new chapter for the next three months. I will be returning to my hostel and they don't let us use computer or laptop there. So I won't be able to write while I am there. My next holidays when I could get back home to write, is in three months so I'll only be able to post then.**_

 _ **I apologize, but there's nothing I can do. I hope you understand.**_

 _ **Enjoy this new chapter. It's not much, but I hope you like it.**_

* * *

 **To live again: Chapter 5  
**

 **Revelations**

"So, Naruto are you ready?" Orochimaru asked Naruto who was fiddling with his shirt. Arashi sat in the bed watching the two curiously.

"Where are you going Naru-nii?" Arashi asked confused.

Orochimaru looked at Arashi and smiled, "Well we are going to Naruto's orphanage, so we can get all his stuff and say goodbye to his friends."

Naruto gulped nervously. He had no interest in going back, but he had to.

All the kids at the orphanage were already jealous of him for having the attention of someone like Orochimaru, and now when they are going to find out that he was going to be living with Orochimaru from now on, Naruto can imagine their reactions. Naruto didn't really have much stuff to take or any friends to say goodbye to at the orphanage, but he wasn't going to tell Orochimaru that.

Arashi tilted his head to the side thoughtfully observing Naruto. Even a blind man could tell that Naruto was nervous and Arashi could feel it all the more clearly. So Arashi made up his mind.

"Can I come with you too?" Arashi asked them. Naruto looked surprised and relieved, just as Arashi guessed. Arashi always felt more calm and comfortable when Naruto was with him, he felt protected, and Arashi was hoping that Naruto felt the same. From the apparent relief on Naruto's face Naruto was more comfortable having Arashi with him.

Orochimaru thought about it for a second, it would be good for Arashi to get out of the hospital seeing as he was physically at the peak of his health. And it would be more comfortable for Naruto as well. So after some thinking Orochimaru nodded. They would be leaving to Orochimaru's house today anyway.

Arashi was relieved. Even though the primary reason that he wanted to go was to give Naruto some support, there was also a slight fear of being alone. Arashi had learned to reign in most of the unspeakable terror he felt for apparently no reason, but being alone always scared him.

* * *

Arashi was wearing a blue shirt with a pair of dark grey jeans that Orochimaru had brought him the other day. He walked along the street with his hand tightly clasped in Naruto's arm. Orochimaru walked behind the boys keeping an eye on them and the civilians just in case someone got any ideas regarding Naruto. But by now the civilians had learned to keep their mouths shut whenever Orochimaru was with Naruto. Although Orochimaru couldn't spend time with Naruto often, Orochimaru was an over protective mother bear if he knew that anyone even looked the wrong way at Naruto. Most of the civilians only escaped the man's wrath because Naruto often kept quiet about the mistreatment he received.

Everyone was curious about the blonde haired boy walking next to Naruto. There were many questioning whispers that Orochimaru had shut up with a glare.

"So where is the orphanage?" Arashi asked breaking the tension. He was acutely aware of the negative feelings from the civilians, directed at Naruto and the demonic aura cloaking Orochimaru, directed at the civilians. Suffice to say, Arashi already disliked the civilians. But he couldn't shake the feeling that the face of glaring civilians was a familiar thing. Arashi pushed that thought back in a corner of his mind to think about it later.

"It's close. Around that corner actually." Naruto said pointing to the curve on the path just before them.

Arashi nodded. Then Arashi began humming a tune to distract Naruto from his progressively depressive thoughts that only Arashi could feel. He was sure that no one else could notice, especially with the brilliant smile that Naruto sported.

Naruto looked at Arashi as he hummed; the tune was nice and soothing almost like the tune of a lullaby. He began gently rocking his head with the hums.

Orochimaru observed the younger boy. The tune was nice, but it was also unfamiliar to Orochimaru. He wondered where Arashi heard it from. He noticed the smile on Naruto's face as he nodded along with the tune. Yes, Arashi was a blessing in many ways.

* * *

Naruto entered his soon to be ex-room with a sigh. They had just arrived at the orphanage. Orochimaru had something to talk with the orphanage head. Naruto had come up to his room after telling Orochimaru. He left Arashi with Orochimaru.

"I wonder why someone like Orochimaru Sama would want anything to do with a loser like you." A voice sneered from behind him and Naruto turned around to face the offender calmly. He had expected this. Mika and his gang stood facing Naruto.

"I heard the old man say that he's a demon. Orochimaru sama probably wants to keep an eye on him so that he wouldn't harm any civilians." Another voice mocked.

"Who knows maybe Orochimaru sama wants to get rid of the demon." Another voice chuckled.

"Yeah, he's probably acting all nice so that the baka demon would let his guard down."

Naruto has been hearing this for a long time now, but it bought a stab to his heart every single time. After all there was no way that he could tell that this wasn't the truth. He liked to believe that Orochimaru genuinely cared, but Orochimaru was a ninja so it wasn't impossible.

"Have nothing to say loser?" Kasumi, a girl who was nine and had already started the academy sneered at him.

Naruto stubbornly kept quiet, because he knew that, that would piss them off to no end. Just like he predicted, Zen (the group leader who was ten and also in the academy) growled angrily.

The four bullies standing before him were all older than him and had joined the academy already. And they were even more pissed that the Orochimaru (who barely paid them any attention whenever they tried to get him to notice them) was going to be adopting this pathetic loser that no one liked.

"Nii san?" A small voice caught all their attention.

All of them turned back to look at Arashi who stood in the door way frowning at the four that was standing before Naruto. Arashi had felt Naruto's discomfort and had come up to check on him.

"Who are you kid?" Maya the third bully asked curiously.

Arashi paid them no mind and decisively moved towards Naruto. He looked at the small bag that Naruto was holding.

"Is that everything nii san?" He asked softly.

"Yeah" Naruto nodded sending a wordless glance at the bullies. Naruto was in no way scared of the bullies, but he was scared for Arashi.

The bullies had enough of being ignored. So one of them stepped forward with a scowl,

"Hey don't ignore-"

Mika only remembered taking a hold of Naruto's arm to scare him and the next thing he knew he was lying on a heap near the wall.

The others could only watch with wide eyes. Mika was the oldest of them; being eleven years old and in the in his second last year of the academy. Arashi had caught and twisted the hand that was about to grab Naruto and had cleanly threw Mika over his head and to the wall on the opposite side of the room.

The rest of them watched in surprise as the kid's eyes become cold diamond shards that could cut through them just with a look.

"Don't ever try to hurt my nii san."

The threat behind those words was surprising especially coming from a five year old.

Even Naruto was surprised seeing the change from the timid cheerful boy to this beautifully dangerous being. But more than surprise, Naruto felt warmth bursting from his chest. But this wasn't right, he was the older one and it was his duty to protect Arashi, not the other way around.

Naruto gently put a hand on Arashi's stiff shoulder. Arashi looked at Naruto.

"It's alright Rashi kun" He smiled gently.

Arashi nodded after some time, "Let's go nii san"

Before the both of them exited, Arashi cast one last look at the group of bullies that quieted any protests they had to offer.

They met Orochimaru at the office and as they walked out of the place that was once his home, Naruto gave out a sigh. Arashi and Orochimaru looked at the red head, both offering silent companionship. Naruto smiled when Orochimaru's hand rested on his head and ruffled his hair and he felt Arashi squeeze his hand gently. Maybe things would start looking up from now.

* * *

On the way, Orochimaru insisted that they buy some more cloths and necessities for both of them, because Naruto didn't have much and Arashi basically had nothing. Throughout the shopping even the shops that would normally kick Naruto out, kept quiet in fear of Orochimaru.

During the entire shopping trip Arashi was caught up on his own thoughts. He wondered on the emotions he felt when he saw that boy grab Naruto. Even Arashi had no idea how he did it, it just came naturally like an instinct. Arashi sighed; a lot of his actions confused him greatly. He was aware that the roots of his behavior rested on his lost memories and he hated not knowing what was happening with him.

The over protectiveness he felt over Naruto was the most confusing of all. It appeared the first time they met itself, even before he found out that they were both part of the Uzumaki clan. He understood why Naruto felt the way he did, because Naruto was alone his entire life and apparently hated (that was something Arashi needed to research on later) by everyone so Arashi calling him nii san must have struck a chord not to mention Arashi was the last living family that Naruto had left. But why did Arashi feel the overwhelming emotions that he did when he first met Naruto, emotions so strong that it caused a breakdown?

That could only mean that his past was in some way tangled around Naruto.

Arashi closed his eyes and sighed. Naruto pulled him in the direction of a shop where according to Naruto, they sold the food of gods. As he followed a Naruto who was happily babbling about ramen, Arashi thoughts became clearer.

It didn't matter why. In the end he felt protective of Naruto and Arashi believed that Naruto deserved being protected. Naruto was precious; a kind, loyal and cheerful boy who was being hated unfairly (Arashi would bet his life that Naruto in no way deserved the hatred he was showered with) and he was innocent despite all the darkness surrounding him. Arashi would protect him, would protect and love him because Naruto deserved to be cherished. Naruto was his precious person and he always protected his precious people... That thought send him reeling. he could feel bitterness and sadness well up inside him for no apparent reason. Why? Why was everything so confusing?

Arashi closed his eyes and let the confusing thoughts drift away. He immersed himself in the bowl of Uzumaki special ramen he was offered.

Yup they definitely sold the food of gods.

* * *

 _ **If you have any suggestions just comment or Message, I'll be able to read them since I will have my phone with me.**_

 _ **Oh and to thor94,**_

 _ **Arashi is the Naruto that was send to this dimension by the time god. and the price for the jutsu was Kyubi's existence. There are two Narutos, one of them being Arashi.**_

 _ **And the relationship between Naruto and Arashi is purely platonic. They will acting more like twins who have a very close connection (although Arashi is physically two years younger than Naruto), nothing romantic.**_

 _ **I am still having doubts on the pairing, but it definitely won't be Naruto x Arashi.**_

 _ **I hope that clears all your doubts. Thanks for reviewing.**_

 _ **If any of you have any doubts you can message or review me as well.**_

 _ **Bye for now. See you in three months.  
**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hello, I hope you all are doing well.**_

 _ **And here I am done with chapter 6. It's a bit short and I apologize in advance for any mistakes.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Home Sweet Home**

* * *

"Well, this is it."  
Orochimaru told the two boys standing beside him.

Naruto and Arashi looked at the modest looking traditional Japanese house at the end of the stone paved path leading from the gate they were standing at.  
The house was beautiful and its beauty enhanced by the garden full of luscious green plants and vivid flowers. At the corner of the garden closer to the forest that made one of the compound's boundaries, there was a small pond at the foot of a sakura tree.

Naruto was confused; he had been to Orochimaru's apartment in the shinobi sector a few times.  
"Did you buy a new house Oro chan?"  
Orochimaru shook his head.  
"This is my family home. I moved out of here because it was too big for just one person."  
Naruto didn't ask anymore since he knew that Orochimaru lost his parents at a young age.  
Arashi just kept quiet the entire time.

Orochimaru placed his palm on the gate.  
Arashi felt the burst of chakra that Orochimaru sent into the gate and like a firework, he could feel energy spreading, twisting, converging and diverging in intricate patterns that spread across the entire compound.  
Arashi curiously tilted his head, _'what was that?'_

As the gate opened slowly, Orochimaru looked back at the boys. As expected Naruto was looking around in wonder, but seeing the perplexed look on Arashi's face,  
"Is something the matter, Arashi kun?"

Arashi looked at Orochimaru, "What was that? Just now, when you opened the gate. What exactly did you do?"  
Orochimaru was surprised at the question; he understood that Arashi had sensed the seals. It was a skill that took many years to master, such deep skills at sensing chakra. But Arashi's sensory prowess was naturally that good.  
Naruto looked at the two confused.

"They were seals Arashi kun. I activated them with my chakra."  
"Seals?" Arashi and Naruto asked curiously.

Orochimaru chuckled.  
"I'll tell you about it later. For now why don't we head inside and get settled in."

* * *

That night at dinner all of them sat at the dining table along with Sarutobi and Danzo.  
All of them were enjoying the home cooked meals courtesy of Orochimaru.

"Its delicious Oro chan." Naruto said with a goofy smile, "Not as good as Ramen but still good enough."

Orochimaru shook his head with small smile. While Hiruzen and Danzo chuckled. Arashi was also smiling.

"I'll never understand you Uzumakis and your obsession with ramen."

"That's because Uzumakis are awesome and awesome people only love awesome food." Naruto declared.

They all smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Orochimaru san, did you know any other Uzumakis other than us?" Arashi asked curiously.

"Well..." Orochimaru thought his answers through, "There was this one Uzumaki woman that I knew of."  
Naruto stopped eating and stared at Orochimaru in disbelieve and a small bit of betrayal,

"And you didn't tell me?" He asked quietly.

Orochimaru sighed sadly at Naruto's reaction. Hiruzen and Danzo were watching him closely.  
"Naruto," Orochimaru began softly, carefully," She was one of my friends who died seven years ago. I didn't want to tell you about her just to tell you that she was no longer alive."

When Naruto still looked a little disappointed, Orochimaru continued,  
"And she was a good friend Naruto, one who I lost too quickly. Talking about her is... difficult for me... Please understand."  
"Okay." Naruto relented quietly.

"So, Naruto, you will be going to the academy from next month onwards right?" Hiruzen asked breaking the silence that had ensued.  
' _Academy?'_ Arashi wondered.

The distraction had Naruto smiling again and Arashi sighed in relief when he felt Naruto's mood lift, if only slightly.  
But the smile that Naruto gave showed more happiness than he felt and that made Arashi narrow his eyes at the obvious fake cheerfulness. Obvious for him that is, the elders at the table seemed quiet convinced that Naruto was back to his cheerful persona completely.  
Naruto nodded excitedly. Far too excitedly in Arashi's opinion.

"Yeah. I am going to become a ninja in no time. Believe it."  
That got Arashi's attention, an academy for ninjas? And Naruto's going... Being a ninja is dangerous... So that only left one thing for Arashi to do,  
"I am going too."  
Everyone at the table stared at the boy in surprise.  
"Eh?" Naruto blinked slowly then a wide smile broke out across his face, "That's awesome! We can become ninja together. We'll be the unbeatable duo. And that way we won't be separated either." Naruto's smile was pure joy.

Arashi smiled, well he got all the permission he needed.  
The others... Well they were not that happy. They were still surprised by the decisive tone that Arashi used, like there was no way he would back down from his stance.  
"You are too young for the academy Arashi kun." Hiruzen said gently trying to coerce both boys.  
"No he's not." Naruto was the one who protested. "I have heard those clan kids bragging about how they would join the academy early just like an Itachi or Kaka-something. That means that it is possible to join early right?"  
Arashi simply looked at Naruto when he said that. The others were still not ready to back down though.

" But Naruto kun, all the kids at the academy would be older than Arashi kun and Arashi would find it hard to keep up with them." Orochimaru said.  
Naruto thought back to the image of Miko crumpled against the wall and scoffed, "Trust me Oro chan, he's more than capable of keeping up with them."

"I think it's a good idea."

Hiruzen and Orochimaru looked at Danzo, ready to protest. Danzo almost rolled his eyes at the two over-protective mother hens.

"We were planning on training them both anyway, so why not?" He said.

That got both Hiruzen and Orochimaru sighing in defeat.

Naruto and Arashi smiled in glee.  
"But on one condition," Danzo said with a smirk

Arashi raised an eyebrow and Naruto frowned lightly. Orochimaru and Hiruzen looked curious at the new turn of events.

"For the next month Orochimaru and I will be personally teaching you both some techniques. You need to master them, all of them, in one month as well as complete all the training we give. If you fail to get our approval at the end of the month then both of you would have to wait another two years to join the academy. Or you could just decline my challenge now and Naruto can go to the academy next month. Arashi will have to wait for two years and join the academy when he's seven, like every other kid his age."

"Why are you dragging Nii san into this?" Arashi asked sharply. Although he felt no ill intent from the man, he did not like Naruto's chance at joining the academy in peril.

"I agree to your challenge." Naruto said making Danzo smirk.  
"Nii san?" Arashi asked a little unsure. But then Naruto gave him that blindingly confident yet comforting smile and Arashi put his doubts to rest.  
"Then I agree as well." Arashi said.  
Danzo chuckled; _Uzumakis sure are a stubborn bunch. Next month will be interesting._  
"Well then, your training starts tomorrow."

* * *

"Well, why'd you want to meet me, Souka?" A deep baritone voice asked the brown haired, blue eyed young man.

Souka; the male in question, looked at the blond haired brown eyed man whose appearance was only a well crafted henge. After all it would not be ideal for the man to be wandering around earth country with his real appearance.

Both of them were at a shady bar.

"I have an interesting piece of info on the leaf." Souka began softly. Knowing well enough that a well placed seal was already hiding their conversation from the rest of the world.

"Well are you going to tell me what it is or not?"  
Souka sighed,

" Konoha has a new Uzumaki."

"What? "  
The man asked calmly. It was not really that surprising, considering that many Uzumaki's were still wandering around.

"Well supposedly this boy is from the Uzumaki royal line."  
That got the man's attention as he stared wide eyed at Souka. Souka barely suppressed a smirk.

"How do you know that he is from the royal line?"

"Well, he does have the sacred Uzumaki bloodline."

The man clasped both hands under his chin and closed his eyes.

Souka continued,  
"The boy is around five or six. Blond hair with red highlights and blue eyes. Name's Arashi Uzumaki. Reports say that he is the lost child of Uzumaki Kushina's twin brother and an unknown Namikaze female." As he said the last sentence, Souka looked sharply at the man.

"I see."

The more he heard, the more grim, the man's face became.

Souka stood up, "If you want the kid, go get him before my kage or any other kage takes him. The temptation of the sacred uzumaki bloodline is very high, and I doubt anyone would allow Konoha to have both the kyubi as well as the chakra chains."

The man nodded as he too stood up. Souka left without another word.

The man's eyes narrowed, _son of Kushina's twin, eh? It's high time I paid a little visit to Konoha._

* * *

 _ **Hello, been a long time huh? Well I did tell you it would take some time. I saw all your comments and PM for all my stories and let me tell you that I am a very happy author right now.**_  
 _ **Thanks for all your support people. I reallly realllly realllllly appreciate it.**_  
 _ **Tell me your opinions on this chapter please...**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Here is the next chapter. Hope you like it. And please tell me your opinions.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **A Month Of Training**

* * *

"Well Arashi kun, you will be spending the first half of your month with me." Danzo said looking at the little blonde.  
Arashi nodded.

"The first thing I will be teaching you is chakra control." Seeing as he had the boy's full attention, Danzo continued, "being an Uzumaki you naturally have a lot of chakra and it is important that we gain control of this chakra."

Arashi nodded.

"The first chakra control exercise I will be teaching you is the leaf balancing. Here's how you do it."  
Danzo stuck a leaf to his palm and then tilted it upside down showing that it didn't fall down.

"You stuck the leaf to your skin using chakra. There is a thin layer of chakra between your skin and the leaf." Arashi said after sometime.

Danzo nodded in approval. "I want you to try it. But first, do you know how to intentionally call upon your chakra?"

Arashi nodded.

"Good, so begin now and call me when you-"

"Done."

 _What!_ Danzo blinked at the kid sticking the leaf to his palm and maintaining it easily. _Already? But how? Uzumakis always have difficulty in controlling their chakra._

 _"_ How did you do it so quickly Arashi kun?"

Arashi shrugged, "all I did was mimic what your chakra did with my chakra. I just thought about it and it happened."

Arashi was now sticking multiple leaves to different parts of his body and experimenting with the amount of chakra used for the technique.

 _Could it be the result of Kabuto's doings? An Uzumaki with perfect chakra control? What a terrifying thought! Is that what he wanted to create?_

Arashi more than sensed Danzo's bewilderment.

"Sensei?"

Danzo snapped out of his thoughts ' _sensei? Its been a while since I have been called that.'_

 _"_ Yes Arashi kun?"

"Was what I did abnormal?"

Danzo shook his head, "No Arashi kun, you just surprised me thats all. So since you could do this so easily, why don't we move on to the next exercise?"

"Before that sensei, how does it feel? The chakra of someone who is fully in control of it?"

"It feels like a river, with no ripples no splashes, just smooth flow. Thats the best I can give."

"Then... I think I might have full control of it already sensei..."

* * *

"Okay Naruto we will be meditating today."

Naruto's mood deflated drastically when he heard that.

"Whaaaaat! I thought you were going to teach me some supercool jutsu." Naruto whined.

Orochimaru sighed, "and pray tell Naru, how do you plan on learning this 'supercool' jutsu without any access to your chakra?"

"Uhhh... He he" Naruto laughed sheepishly, "But why do I have to meditate for that?"

"That's how you unlock your chakra."

"Really?! Then what are we waiting for Oro chan?!"

"Alright then. Lets start. I want you to sit down comfortably, fully relaxed. Close your eyes and take deep breaths... Try searching for a warmth within you."

 ** _3 hours later_**

Orochimaru watched Naruto carefully, the boy had been at it for that last three hours.  
Most kids took atleast a day before they unlock their chakra. It might be a little quicker with Naruto seeing as his reserves were so large, but it woul-  
Orochimaru's train of thoughts were cut off when he felt the first pulse. He stood up alert. As the second pulse of chakra passed through Orochimaru looked at Naruto in panic.

Naruto was covered in azure blue coloured chakra that was moving around him like a storm contained by an invisible barrier.

In one bright flash of light, the entire build up of chakra exploded outward, throwing Orochimaru backward and creating a wide trench around the little space where Naruto sat.

"Woah! Did I do that?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise as he opened his eyes.

Orochimaru groaned as he sat up.

"Oro chan!" Naruto yelled seeing the older man on the ground.  
He jumped down the trench and climbed out the other side and ran towards orochimaru who by now was back on his feet.

"I am fine Naru. I didn't think you'd put out that much chakra in one go, just like that."

When Naruto still looked worried Orochimaru ruffled his hair with a smile.

"That's some chakra you have Naru."

"Really? Was it that cool?!"

Naruto cheered when Orochimaru nodded.

"Lets continue tomorrow, okay? For now we can go get Arashi and go for lunch."

"Okay." Naruto nodded excited. He began talking about how he would be an awesome ninja and such.

As soon as Naruto's attention was diverted, Orochimaru grimaced, things just had to get worse.

* * *

 _ **That's it for now. And most of you can probably guess what Oro-chan meant by 'worse'.**_

 _ **Bye for now.**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Here is the next chapter. Hope you like it. And please tell me your opinions.**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Chapter 8**

* * *

The Orphanage workers always made it clear that Naruto was unwanted. Only a few people ever accepted him, ever needed him. But somewhere deep down he knew that they would all leave him one day.

The others always said that Orochimaru and Jiji only got involved with him due to either pity or some twisted method of 'keeping the demon under control'. Naruto never believed them, at least, he tried not to.

Arashi entered the house to see a sullen Naruto sitting at the dining table.

"Naru-nii?"

Naruto looked at him with a fake smile, "hey Arashi how was the training?"

"It went… well. What's wrong Naru-nii?" Arashi sat on the chair next to Naruto and looked at him concerned.

Naruto frowned and looked down at his lap, his cherry red hair shadowing his eyes.

"I… I hurt Oro-chan today."

Arashi's eyes widened, "Obviously it was an accident. Is he okay?"

Naruto looked at Arashi frowning, "How can you say that when you weren't there? And yes, he's okay. Went off to meet with Jiji and Danzo-san."

Arashi shrugged, "That's good. I know you would never attack Oro-chan on purpose Naru-nii. If he is alright then why are you so worried?"

"I… I don't know." Naruto shrugged.

"He is not going to just abandon you. You should have some more faith in him and yourself Naru-nii."

Arashi watched as Naruto nodded and stood up to leave.

"Nii san he's not going to be angry at you."

"I know."

"Then what are you worried about?"

"Nothing…"

"Please don't lie to me."

"Arashi…"

"You're disappointed… that you hurt your precious person…" Going by Naruto's expression Arashi knew that he made the correct guess.

Naruto gave a frustrated nod. Arashi sighed and relaxed.

"Naru-nii, it was an accident. Accidents happen all the time. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and make sure that you never repeat it."

Naruto looked at Arashi and then slowly nodded determined.

Arashi got up grimacing a headache was pounding in his head.

"You alright Rashi-kun?" Naruto asked concerned.

"Just a headache Naru-nii. I am going to bed, okay."

Naruto nodded still concerned.

The image of a red haired woman with sunset orange eyes flashed before his sight and Arashi sucked a breath at the headache that spiked like lightning.

He slowly moved towards his room not noticing Naruto's concerned looks.

* * *

"The Namikaze bloodline? Orochimaru…" Hiruzen looked at Orochimaru desperately wishing that his student would correct him for once.

Orochimaru sighed, "Yes Sensei. Naruto has the Namikaze bloodline."

"Well that seals the deal doesn't it…" Hiruzen muttered.

"Unless of course we bury this matter between the three of us." Danzo piped in from the sofa in the Hokage office.

"There is a law, Danzo-"

"As if we haven't broken laws before Hiruzen!" Danzo scoffed, "Think about it. If the council finds out about Naruto having the Namikaze bloodline we can start expecting assassination attempts within the next hour. He is a jinchuuriki Hiruzen, no matter how you try to sugar coat it our village is afraid of him more or less. And if they find out that the 'Demon brat' has a powerful bloodline up his sleeve, either they will cook up some bullshit story about the 'Demon' stealing the dead hero's bloodline or they would start worshipping him, make some Namikaze babies and then stab him from behind. The Namikaze fortune is too big a temptation to let go just like that to the heir that sprouted suddenly like that, especially to a jinchuuriki."

"I agree with Danzo-sama, Sensei."

After a moment of silence Hiruzen nodded grimly, "That's decided then. For now Naruto's bloodline will be kept under the wraps."

"But we also need someone to train him Sensei. The Namikaze bloodline could be dangerous without control and if we are not careful, the secret may be out before we have a say about it." Orochimaru said with a frown.

"Seal it."

Two pair of eyes snapped to Hiruzen in surprise.

"I want it to be sealed temporarily. We'll unlock the bloodline only during the times that we are training him with it otherwise, keep it sealed. That way we can keep the bloodline under the wraps until he gets control over it."

"You know a Bloodline Suppression Seal will degrade his chakra control." Danzo mused.

Hiruzen looked at him exasperated, "Naruto is an Uzumaki and a jinchuuriki to boot, chakra control was already beyond the realm of possible for him. So he won't lose much, compared to the alternate option."

"You're right. But then what do we do about Arashi? I didn't really believe the kid when he first said that he had full control over his chakra, but then he finished every chakra exercise I have ever known, in less than a day. With such control and the Uzumaki reserves, that kid could become unstoppable and add the bloodline to that… I don't even want to think about it."

"I have never ever heard of an Uzumaki born with excellent or even average chakra control before. But then again he is different…"

"About that Sensei," Orochimaru began and both old men looked at him curiously, "I performed another test on Arashi's blood sample and I believe that we may have missed a lot of the facts."

Hiruzen sat straighter and Danzo tensed, "So what did we miss?"

Orochimaru unsealed a file and handed it to Hiruzen and Danzo looked at it as well, "This is the file we found at Kabuto's hideout, explaining his experiments on Arashi."

"Yes… But there was also a page missing from it." He handed the page to Hiruzen and Danzo. Their eyes widened.

"But Test Subject 16 was Arashi or so we thought…" Danzo mumbled as he read the file regarding the failure of Test Subject 16, according to Kabuto the subject like all the previous subjects had died and the body had been disposed of.

The date on the file was a week before Kabuto had fled, so there is no chance for a another test subject, but that also meant that Arashi wasn't one of Kabuto's experiments or at least not one on Kabuto's files.

"There is also something else in Arashi's DNA that doesn't match our previous assumptions. If Arashi had been exposed to the DNAs of all previous Kage and Kushina's there would've been traces left, but there are none for any DNA other than Kushina's and Minato's. I missed it before but looking at it again, Arashi's body shows the signs of continuous exposure to Biju chakra as well. A similar pattern was only ever seen in children of female jinchuuriki. Being contained in the womb of a jinchuuriki for months would affect the fetus with a tolerance to biju chakra as well as their coils start producing slight amounts of biju chakra on their own. This is impossible for a child conceived under laboratory conditions even if one of the parents is a jinchuuriki. All signs confirm that Arashi is a legitimate child of Kushina and Minato, not an experiment."

Danzo stood up and paced, "But all facts point that to be impossible, unless of course Kushina somehow survived being impaled by a giant claw and Minato somehow survived the Death God to produce a child two years after their supposed death and then vanish of to somewhere leaving the child in the arms of a madman."

"All we can do right now is making wild assumptions. The only facts we do have is that Kabuto didn't create Arashi, Kushina and Minato are dead and Arashi was born two years after their death." Hiruzen said grimacing.

"Or was he?" Danzo muttered.

"Danzo?"

"You said that Arashi was born two years after their death… How sure are we about that?"

Orochimaru frowned, "I personally checked his cell growth and chakra growth Danzo-sama there is no way that child is older than five."

Danzo nodded. "But you forget about the Life Stasis Seals Orochimaru… Any human preserved in the seal does not age even a moment."

"But it is also a medical procedure that cannot be used on a live subject for more than two hours without having his cells scrambled. We're talking about two years here Danzo…"

Danzo shrugged, "He's an Uzumaki and if anyone can make it possible it's an Uzumaki."

Orochimaru looked dubious, "But still…"

Danzo looked at him dryly, "Do you have a better theory?"

Orochimaru sighed. No they didn't have a better theory.

The only plausible theory they had was Danzo's right now. They had never been able to get a reading of Kushina's pregnancy because the Kyubi's chakra kept interfering with every hospital equipment and chakra technique that tried to scan the baby (or possibly babies).

It was quite possible that Kushina had twins and everyone present during childbirth was dead with the exception of Naruto and the mystery assailant Minato had mentioned before his death.

So now there was a chance that Arashi was Naruto's twin brother.

The prolonged use of a Life Stasis Seal might also explain the strain that Arashi's cells were under as well as biju chakra that was basically fused with every cell in his body. It might have been the biju chakra and the Uzumaki chakra that kept him alive, which would also explain the early appearance of the bloodline.

But Orochimaru felt that they were missing something very important.

They stayed silent for sometime before Orochimaru spoke up,

"Well this would mean that we need a new training regime for the month."

With that they began working on what to do with their respective students.

* * *

 _There was a woman with him…_

" _Baka you worried us all."_

 _Pink hair, bright green eyes that tried to cover up her concern and relief with annoyance._

" _Ah! Sorry Sakura-chan!"The words slipped from his tongue fluidly._

" _The dobe awake yet Sakura." There was a nonchalance that failed to completely hide the relief._

 _Bluish black hair, obsidian eyes… Sasuke…_

" _Who are you calling a dobe, teme?!"_

" _Now now my cute little students, no fighting while Naruto is still in a cast."_

 _That gravity defying hair, one eye and half his face covered… Sensei…_

 _Playful banter…_

 _Friends… Family… Team 7…_

 _But… they're calling me Naruto. I am not Na-_

Arashi sat up in bed startled out of his dream.

What woke him up? Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Arashi went back to bed wondering what that dream was about. In the morning the dream was forgotten and his headache was gone.

* * *

Arashi walked through the street hand in hand with Naruto who was talking about everything and anything.

The people observed them and most looking at Arashi with pity. He knew the Naruto saw those looks and was trying so hard to act happy.

Arashi squeezed Naruto's hand gently and felt Naruto calm down.

Finally they reached their destination, which was the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. Ayame and Teuchi greeted them with happiness and Arashi's senses reveled in the honesty he felt from the father and daughter.

They ate their food in relative silence. Naruto for once, didn't feel the need to fill the silence with nonsense chatter to remind him that he was not alone. Because Arashi was there and somewhere deep, he knew that Arashi would always be there.

After food they found a peaceful place of the park near a pond.

"Nii san…"

"Mmm Arashi?" Naruto was lying down gazing at the sky thoughtfully and the action was painfully familiar for Arashi, he was sure that someone else had done the same thing quite frequently someone he missed very dearly yet still couldn't remember.

"What do you think happened to me?"

Naruto supported himself on the elbows and looked Arashi quizzically.

"In my past… why can't I remember anything?"

Naruto had no idea what to say.

"I don't know Rashi-chan…" Then when he saw the disheartened look on Arashi's face he quickly said, "But I promise to help you find out. We'll get your memories back."

Arashi seemed to perk up and then he looked worried, "What if it's something really bad? Would it be better not to know?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side with a frown, "We can't be sure unless we find out… But even if it is something really bad I'll always be there with you."

That seemed like the right thing to say because Arashi gave him a shy smile.

Both of them heard footsteps approaching. A group of children was coming towards them and on the distance both of them saw the group of adults there as well.

"Hey do you wanna play with us?" A kid with dark brown hair and grey eyes asked.

"Us?" Arashi asked tentatively because the feeling he got from the boy was off and Naruto was tense and wary beside him that put Arashi on the edge.

"Of course not," scoff "Who would wanna play with that loser?" another kid, a girl with pink hair and green eyes (familiar… almost painfully familiar to Arashi) said pointing at Naruto.

Arashi knew Naruto was getting ready for an explosive reply but then he reigned himself in and sat quietly while the other kids continued to taunt Naruto and trying to goad Arashi away from the 'bad kid'.

Arashi fumed waiting for a reply from Naruto, but for some stupid reason Naruto was keeping quiet with a great force of will that was slamming down on his urge to reply.

Finally he had enough when kids started pulling him away from Naruto, "Let go of me. I don't want to play with you, I don't want to go anywhere with you."

"So you're going to sit here with that loser?" Pinky (as Arashi had dubbed her) frowned.

"He's not a loser, he's my big brother. And I am not an idiot to believe any of those things you said. So unless he picks fights in front of me without a reason or I see him being bad, I won't believe he is bad. You all should start making your own opinions instead of always listening to everything others say."

The last statement was directed more at the parents who pretended not to pay attention.

Naruto looked at Arashi in wonder then with annoyance, "You idiot, I kept quiet because I wanted you to make friends with them not fight with them."

Arashi looked at him with narrowed eyes mirroring Naruto, "So that was it! I was wondering what kept you down. Get it into that thick skull of yours, I am not leaving you and I don't want friends who are idiots like these. Don't act like that ever again."

The other kids watched the two Uzumaki bicker annoyed at being ignored.

"Hey! My daddy and mommy said that he is a bad kid and they would never lie." The grey eyed boy from earlier said.

Arashi scoffed and turned his head away pulling off a perfect 'spoiled brat' look. He was tired of the way these stupid people treated Naruto and he was going to do something about it.

"That's your mommy right there?" Arashi asked the grey eyed boy.

The boy nodded unsure.

Arashi began walking towards the woman and the rest of the parents near her looked surprised but they put on a welcoming smile for the Uzumaki bloodline holder.

"You said that Naruto is a bad boy?" Arashi asked the lady with a frown (which looked adorable on his five-year-old chubby face).

The woman nodded sure that she could convince the kid of staying away from the Demon brat.

By now the others including the kids and some other parents had come near.

"So what did you see him do?"

"Well he-"

"Remember Miss, I asked what you saw with your eyes. I don't want stories and half-truths you heard from others and swallowed without a doubt. I only want to know what you have seen."

That caught the woman off guard, because all she had were the things he heard from others.

When Arashi felt the emotions boiling inside the woman turn to a grim sort of determination he said, "Perhaps I should let you know that I can tell when people lie to me."

She snapped her mouth shut with a snap. She didn't think of one word to say, not with those crystal blue eyes boring holes into her soul. For a moment, she had the feeling that she was staring at some war veteran.

After five minutes of silence, Arashi smirked.

"That proves my point. None of you have actually seen him do anything, you're all just so fond of accusing him that you believe any story that others manage to cook up."

Arashi gave a pointed look at someone who started arguing and they shut up when they saw his eyes.

Arashi grabbed hold of a stunned Naruto and walked back towards their earlier position. After Naruto sat down, Arashi laid down with his head on Naruto's lap.

"You're always defending me…" Naruto said in wonder.

Arashi opened one eye to peer at Naruto, "You're right… Maybe you should start calling me Nii san instead."

Arashi regretted teasing Naruto when he got tickled to tears later.

* * *

From the shadows, the man observed the scene stunned.

"That definitely is an Uzumaki and the royal blood in him is… But that should be impossible." He muttered surprised. So Souka was right.

In his hands were the medical files belonging to Arashi that he had swiped earlier.

"What do you want to do next, Master?" A voice purred from behind him and he regarded the two Uzumaki silently for some more time.

By the time Arashi felt something and turned to look in his direction, the man and his companion were gone.

* * *

Hey ** _I know_** its _ **not much but I hope you like it anyway. Please let me know all your opinions and suggestions.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**I do not own Naruto**_

* * *

 **To Live Again**

 **Surprises**

* * *

A month passed by harmlessly; except for the training grounds.

Naruto and Arashi's training had destroyed entire training grounds. Apparently trying to teach Naruto chakra control had explosive results. Same can be said for Arashi and his chakra chains.

While Arashi had proficiency in most jutsu that they tried to teach, the chakra chains were a different matter entirely. It wasn't really all that surprising if one knew about the fact that Arashi was actually an eighteen-year-old Kage from an alternate dimension with no memories of who he was.

He had mastered all the jutsu Danzo and Orochimaru taught him in his previous life and that showed even though he had no conscious memories. The chakra chains were difficult because he never had them in his previous life. His mind still wasn't used to them and they always lashed out uncontrollably in a way that made it clear that Arashi's training in chakra chains was impossible without Naruto nearby. Arashi was learning to control them and Naruto was getting subsequent training in dodging the chakra chains. Not that the chains harmed him when they caught him; they just nuzzled him like very friendly snakes. But Orochimaru had turned that into training and told Naruto to dodge the chains whenever they came close.

Orochimaru wondered why the chains had a particular hostility with him and Danzo. Unknowingly the chains were powered by Arashi's subconscious memory of a previous life in which the both of them were out to destroy Arashi and his village. This also meant that without Naruto there to distract the chains Orochimaru and Danzo had to run whenever the chains come out. That was fun.

Once the first half of the month with Danzo was over, Orochimaru's turn to teach Arashi came. Orochimaru tried teaching the boy calligraphy so that he could learn Sealing Techniques in the future but to his immense surprised Arashi already had flawless writing skills that would make a seal-master envious. So Orochimaru had no option but to teach the kid basic sealing theory which the kid learned with a pace that would make an Uzumaki proud. Orochimaru also taught the boy the basic forms for taijutsu and kenjutsu.

In his previous life, Arashi had created his own taijutsu style that was a very complex mix of the Uzuken, Kazeken and, Kamiken. He had learned and mastered each of the styles from his comrades after the first war. Later he had combined the three styles to create an entirely new and unpredictable technique. He had given no particular name to the style he had created, none the less, when Orochimaru began teaching him taijutsu he unconsciously began falling into the stances that he had learned previously. He had never learned kenjutsu in his previous life and hence that was something he found difficult to learn.

Orochimaru had a suspicion that all that he was teaching Arashi was things Arashi already knew. He learned so quickly as if he was just refreshing the memory and knowledge that already existed. But the kid had no memory of his past and was only five. So there was no way, right?

* * *

For Naruto, Orochimaru had taught him all the basics that he would require and built up a very good foundation. Orochimaru had trained they boy in calligraphy; planning on teaching the boy sealing in the future, and now Naruto had a flawless; for a seven-year-old; writing style. It was when Orochimaru was teaching the boy calligraphy that he noticed that Naruto's reading and writing skills were severely lacking due to the neglect of the orphanage staff. Though Orochimaru had visited the boy every chance he got he couldn't do much since he was always on a mission or otherwise occupied. Orochimaru was ashamed to admit that he hadn't given much thought to what Naruto was learning at the orphanage and had always assumed that the boy was taught. Orochimaru took the time to teach Naruto reading and writing as well.

Then he started teaching Naruto a kenjutsu and taijutsu basics. This would ensure that Naruto had a good form and base for any future study on kenjutsu and taijutsu. True to the Uzumaki tradition, Naruto was very interested and a quick learner in kenjutsu.

Orochimaru also trained Naruto in chakra flow manipulation since Naruto could not perform any chakra control techniques. It was similar to chakra control but inside the body instead of outwards. The technique was to concentrate on the chakra flow inside the body and try to manipulate it for concentrating more chakra on to different parts of the body. This was a technique used by chunin and higher shinobi to increase muscle strength, healing rate of an injury (not that Naruto had that particular use because of his healing ability), and speed and to reduce muscle fatigue. It was difficult for Naruto whose chakra was a raging tsunami compared to other shinobi. But in the end, Naruto learned it through sheer determination. Orochimaru was impressed.

Then the boy actually increased his healing rate. The sight of a cut vanishing even before it was fully formed was awe inspiring. Naruto had used his training and taken his already incredible healing ability to the level of instant regeneration.

Tsunade would be so jealous! Orochimaru thought but then the thought of his teammate put down his mood.

The next half of Naruto's training was by Danzo. Since Orochimaru had done all the basic works Danzo taught him the basic jutsu. That ended up giving Danzo a major headache.

Naruto couldn't do a basic clone or henge. The boy had become so depressed that Danzo actually felt guilty!

They tried and tried but the results remained the same. The conclusion was that Naruto had too much chakra and no chakra control to do them. His control wasn't really helped by the newly placed bloodline suppression seal.

While the three adults wondered over what to do in the situation Arashi solved the problem for them.

Arashi had simply gone to take Naruto out of his depression. Then Naruto had started talking about how he couldn't do any of the jutsu correctly even after doing all the necessary hand signs and everything. Arashi had thought about it for a minute and then explained to Naruto how a henge and clone worked. He put an emphasis on how the chakra was supposed to flow and Naruto listened aptly. They both brainstormed and found the idea.

Emitting chakra outward and manipulating to create an illusion around the user is what shinobi did when they did henge. Naruto had such abysmal chakra control that he couldn't emit the meager amounts of chakra required to create an illusion.

Instead of that, they tried to manipulate the chakra inside the body in order to change the actual shape of the body rather than creating an illusion. With the Kitsune's natural ability of shapeshifting and the Kyuubi chakra manipulating the cells; Naruto was actually able to perform shapeshifting safely instead of a henge. The three adults were shocked and horrified. Shapeshifting was a very difficult technique and there were no written records of it anywhere. They understood that had it been anyone other than Naruto that tried it, they would've ended up as a bloody mass of bones and tissue. They congratulated Naruto for the technique and warned Arashi not to try it. Arashi agreed when they explained the risks.

But the very next day Arashi came up with a solid henge that was actually very much similar to the shapeshift but less efficient. It was just pushing out so much chakra that instead of creating an illusion around the user; that could be disrupted easily; he created a solid shell around himself. This wasn't disrupted easily and couldn't be detected by dojutsu either. It was also a forbidden jutsu on the level of the shadow clones.

The adults were getting more and more surprised by the prodigies.

Then Arashi and Naruto worked on Naruto's clone technique. Naruto couldn't do the clones because clones required projecting chakra outwards and the second reason was that molding his wild chakra into a shape only resulted in a dead looking clone or an explosion. So Arashi suggested using something to anchor the chakra to; like how they use elemental clones. In the end, two kids created a wind clone technique; on their own. Hiruzen, Orochimaru and Danzo had the shock of their lives and no one could understand how the kids were able to do it.

Arashi had actually created and mastered the wind clone technique in his previous life and that was what fueled the creation of the jutsu a second time. Arashi had also been able to do shapeshifting in his previous life but since he was no longer the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, the ability was lost to him.

Later Arashi said that he had come across a jutsu named Shadow clone during his research for the wind clone and casually commented that the technique could be best used by Naruto since he had the required chakra capacity. But the technique was just mentioned in the notes and the actual jutsu was written down and confined to the Forbidden Scroll so the kids couldn't really learn it on their own.

But Arashi did manage to convince Hiruzen to let them learn it. After all the five-year-old put up some logical arguments in their favor. So they learned shadow clone and wind clone by the end of the month as well.

Danzo had made sure that Naruto was skilled in all three of the basic jutsu and started teaching him Chakra theory. Because if the kids had the skill to create a jutsu at their age, then teaching then chakra theory would only help them understand and invent more of their own jutsu. He also taught Naruto sealing theory, since Orochimaru had taught the kid calligraphy.

Naruto's learning speed was nowhere near Arashi's but the kid was a quick learner. Naruto was an amazing student if one knew how to teach him, but Arashi; he was unbelievable. The kid learned things so quickly that Orochimaru and Danzo had run out of things to teach him since they didn't want to teach Arashi any higher techniques than D rank (the clones and henge were an exception) they didn't have many options to teach. So Arashi basically spent half his training time roaming the Hokage's library (explicit permission from Hiruzen since the kid was always very curious and how harmful could book be?). The main reason for Arashi visiting the library was to help Naruto with his own jutsu and hence Arashi became a bookworm. All the sacrifices he did for Naruto!

By the end of the month, Orochimaru and Danzo had two kids that could become genin the next day by the standards of the Academy this time around. But of course, early graduation was a denied possibility for the two boys; for security reasons that the adults would not specify.

All this time the man watched the boys from the shadows. He saw them training and was very much impressed by their skills. The more he watched Arashi, the more he confirmed his suspicions about the boy. That learning curve the boy had shown was simply impossible unless what he had been told was right.

'Well then,' the man thought, 'time to make my entry.'

* * *

"Hokage-sama, the elders have requested an urgent meeting."

Hiruzen stared at the anbu blankly; inside he was suspicious about why the council wanted a sudden meeting.

"What is the reason for the request?"

"It is regarding Uzumaki Arashi, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, what did the council now want with Arashi-kun?

"Permission granted. Gather a meeting inside the council hall in half an hour."

The anbu vanished from sight. Hiruzen frowned in thought, what was going on? He sent out a pulse of chakra and one of Danzo's root Anbu appeared inside the room and bowed at him.

"What is the reason for the sudden meeting?" Hiruzen asked knowing that if anything fishy was going on Danzo would've already got wind of it.

"Uzumaki Arashi's father has approached the council, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen's eyes widened, Arashi's father? What?

"Who is the man claiming to be Arashi's father?"

"Uzumaki Ryu, Hokage-sama; he is the brother of Uzumaki Kushina and has necessary proof to show that he is who he says he is."

Hokage stared at the anbu in surprise.

Uzumaki Ryu? But he was supposed to be dead and that's why they told the council that Arashi was his son… Now he was alive? And why was he claiming to be Arashi's father? That was just a lie that Hiruzen and Danzo had cooked up! Oh, dear Kami! This would be one hell of a mess.

* * *

 **At the council meeting;**

Hiruzen stared at the man standing before him; Uzumaki Ryu; or at least someone claiming to be Uzumaki Ryu and had a very good transformation technique to copy the appearances.

The man looked to be in his early twenties or late teens; that was younger than he was supposed to look. Kushina was twenty-three when she died, meaning that should she be alive now she would thirty. Uzumaki Ryu should be the same age since he was Kushina's twin brother. But with Uzumakis age was always questionable due to their vitality; they could look half their actual age.

The man was tall with a lean, muscular body typical of Uzumaki males. He also had sky blue eyes, very different from Kushina's amethyst eyes. His hair was the classic Uzumaki red and it was kept short; for an Uzumaki; so that it only barely reached his shoulders. His hair was wild yet stylish with jaw-length bangs framing his angular face. Hiruzen can see the similarities to Kushina very clearly. The man's chin and his pale pink lips and the shape of his face and eyes all resembled Kushina.

Hiruzen had met Uzumaki Ryu only twice before. Once when Kushina first arrived in Konoha; the boy was with her and both of them were stubbornly holding each other. The second time was when Ryu came to see Kushina two days before a mission. Later he was critically injured in the mission and was taken to Whirlpool for treatment and it was during this time that Whirlpool had been attacked and destroyed. Ryu had been among those that had been declared dead.

Now here he was standing alive and well. Hiruzen hoped that the man was not an imposter.

"Uzumaki-sama," Koharu began with a good amount of respect. Since the man standing before him was the Prince of Whirlpool; even if the country was destroyed one would never show disrespect to him.

"You have already handed over proof of your identity, but forgive me if I offend you, we find ourselves doubting your claims-"

"You can just test my blood and get it over with," Ryu spoke cutting off the elder.

Well, at least he had the Uzumaki bluntness.

Koharu looked a bit peeved at being cut off like that but wisely just nodded and agreed. An anbu (Hiruzen noted that it was one of Danzo's) came and collected the man's blood and left.

"If you are Uzumaki Ryu as you say, what is your purpose of coming back to Konoha now? You had been declared 'dead' for the last nine years." Hyuga Hiashi asked.

Ryu regarded the man coolly; "My son; I am here for my son Arashi."

All of the council members looked at each other nervously. None of them particularly wanted to lose the chakra chains from the village.

"May I inquire what exactly happened to your son that he ended up in Konoha with amnesia?" Inoichi asked.

Ryu looked surprised, "Amnesia?"

It was Hiruzen that answered him, "Yes, Arashi-kun had no memory of what happened before we found him."

Ryu looked down thoughtfully and mumbled, "I guess that could be a good thing considering what he must have gone through…"

"Uzumaki-san," Hokage prompted him to answer Inoichi's question.

Ryu looked at Inoichi and sighed, "He was kidnapped a year ago. Never found out who did it or where Arashi was until I heard a rumor about an Uzumaki with chakra chains in Konoha… I had hoped that it was Arashi and came to investigate…"

Inoichi nodded satisfied with the answer for now.

"You wish to take Arashi-kun with you out of Konoha?" Hiruzen asked suspiciously.

"Yes…" Ryu nodded.

"Uzumaki-sama, your son has no memories of his past and has become very attached with the village. Taking him away will be detrimental to his mental health," Inoichi said and the civilians looked at Ryu hopefully.

Ryu shook his head, "I have to take him with me. His mother… She is not in a good condition; that was why she couldn't come with me. She was terribly affected by Arashi's disappearance and… Only Arashi can help her now… "

Just then the anbu came back with the results; it seems that the man in front of them really was Uzumaki Ryu. A lot of them were banking on the hope that Ryu was an imposter so that they could keep Arashi in Konoha but now that option was gone. Since this man was really Ryu, he had the choice on what to do with Arashi unless Hiruzen and Danzo revealed that Arashi was not actually Ryu's son. That would go very wrong.

Hiruzen looked at Danzo and Danzo shook his head. They had backed themselves into a corner. The only option was to accept the action that the council took now and do damage control using Root.

"Arashi-kun's mother; is she really a Namikaze?" A councilwoman asked.

Ryu nodded, "Yes, she is."

There was a collective intake of breath at the proof that Arashi was from the Yondaime's clan. Although they already knew this, the proof made them more excited and desperate.

Just then Fugaku spoke, "Uzumaki-sama, are you currently affiliated with any other villages?"

Ryu shook his head, "No."

"Then why not join Konoha? Yamanaka-san already suggested that Konoha would be good for your son's health. You and your wife can move here and we can provide the best treatment for her, if she is in need of it," Homura said convincingly.

Ryu rolled his eyes, "Isn't that the Hokage's decision to make?"

Everyone looked at the Hokage and Hiruzen looked at Ryu's playful eyes, "I agree, Uzumaki-san. You should bring your wife here and the both of you along with Arashi can become members of Konoha…"

Ryu looked down thoughtfully again and frowned.

Finally, he looked up at Hiruzen, "I would like to join Konoha with my family, Hokage-sama."

The civilians all cheered silently that the village could keep the Uzumaki bloodline. Not to mention that Ryu was a political powerhouse.

"But I need a year," Ryu said catching everyone's attention, "I have things that need to be settled before joining Konoha. Currently, I and my wife live in Wave and the people there are very dependent on us for protection from bandits and such. We have some duties to that village that needs to be settled. It might take a year. I also have to take Arashi with me during this year."

Everyone looked displeased with that.

"After a year, if your invitation still stands, I and my family would be glad to join Konoha."

Hiruzen remained silent as he stared at Ryu. Then finally the Hokage agreed and the meeting was adjourned.

As the council members left, Ryu turned to Hiruzen with narrowed angry eyes; "We need to talk, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Inside the Hokage's office, four people sat silently. One of them is giving a slight glare at the Hokage.

"Tell me Hokage-sama, how do I suddenly have a five-year-old son?" Ryu huffed angrily.

Danzo spoke up, "You claimed the boy as your son in the council room… He is not your son?"

Ryu gave an amused smile, "I think all of us present here know that Arashi is not my son. I also know that it was you three that cooked up that particular lie. I mean, there I was; sitting in a bar drinking sake when I suddenly hear the rumor. The son of the Whirlpool Prince; Uzumaki Arashi has been found in Konoha and guess what, the boy also has chakra chains!" Ryu finished with a dramatic gasp of surprise.

Then he glared at all three of the occupants of the room.

"Don't look at me. They were the ones that made it up," Orochimaru mumbled under his breath.

Ryu heard him and laughed amused. Then he took a deep breath and smiled at the Hokage, "It's been a long time since I came here…"

"It's been nine years, Uzumaki-kun. Mind telling us how you are alive?" The Hokage asked.

Ryu chuckled softly, "You wouldn't believe me… But I'll tell you anyway because all these have become too much for me…"

Orochimaru looked at the tired man. Danzo and Hiruzen exchanged some looks.

"But before that," Ryu said sharply, "How much do you trust these two, Hokage-sama?" Ryu sent a pointed look towards Orochimaru and Danzo.

Orochimaru and Danzo just gazed at the man evenly while Hiruzen spoke, "With my life and my village."

Ryu nodded, "Good… That's good, but I would like an assurance from all three of you that whatever is said inside this room will not leave this group."

"We assure you Uzumaki-kun, any information that you're giving us now will not leave this group," Hiruzen said gazing at Ryu with a conviction that seemed to put the man at ease.

Ryu looked down and mumbled, "Okay then here goes nothing…" He turned his gaze towards the other three occupants of the room and began.

"In Uzushio we had a Regenerative Stasis Seal we used to keep a shinobi alive and under stasis while his/her body heals from whatever injury it suffered. Essentially in a condition where a shinobi is so critically injured that they will die even with treatment, this seal is used on them. Below Uzushio, there is a medical holding room… Every shinobi under stasis is kept there with necessary staff. I was kept there after they found me injured after my last mission.

During the attack, I was there; along with thirteen other shinobi kept under stasis. They invading forces never discovered the holding room.

They razed our village to the ground…"

Ryu looked down when Orochimaru placed his palm over his clenched hand. For a moment Ryu didn't process the blood dripping from his clenched hand where his nails had dug into his palm. Orochimaru gently nudged his hand and Ryu took some time to unclench his fist. He saw the crescent wounds inflicted by his nails in his palm.

"We were kept alive by the stasis seal but everyone else who even knew about the facility had already been killed… The seal runs on the ambient chakra of Uzushio and it deactivates on its own either when the chakra runs out or when the person inside the seal is completely healed. Each seal had enough chakra to maintain stasis for a maximum of four years; any longer than that and the shinobi under stasis will suffer permanent damage to their chakra coils. Those kept under stasis were the only survivors…

Hitomi was the first one to wake up. She had been put into stasis a year before me and she woke up three years after the death of our precious village. Her seal deactivated itself when the chakra ran out. It was her who deactivated the rest of our seals otherwise I would've been under stasis for one more year. Out of thirteen only nine of us, who were Uzumaki, survived; the others were non-Uzumaki shinobi and died due to chakra coil rupture halfway through the stasis period.

Three years under stasis and all we had left was each other and the fossils of our home.

Then I remembered that Kushina was in Konoha and might have survived...

She wasn't on Uzushio when the village was attacked; she had survived the destruction of Uzushio only to die by the Kyuubi two years after. Everyone was gone… We didn't know even what to do. Tell me Hokage-sama, what should we have done? Lost in grief and guilt and the only place that could offer us asylum had become a grave site for our Princess. I didn't want to come here only to be reminded of Kushina.

We wanted to find out how; how our village was destroyed.

Don't you think it fishy? An island protected by the ocean and whirlpools, seals after seals placed for detecting intruders and driving out invaders. Master Sensors who could detect enemies from miles away. Our village was the most secure one there ever existed…

Then how did we get destroyed just like that? We needed answers but the years under the stasis seal had put us all at a very fragile condition. Our bodies needed to be retrained and it took us two years to get back to the strength we were once at. We hid during that two years. We didn't come to Konoha because even Konoha was under our suspicion at that time."

The Hokage only nodded in understanding. A village like Uzushio would not be destroyed that easily; not without any betrayal at play. The Hokage couldn't blame the man for doubting them as well, especially since Konoha hadn't been able to help Uzushio.

"We established our own spy network within the next year. And after two more years of investigation, we found the answers... A few of our own shinobi had betrayed us."

There was no anger in the man's voice only raw grief and such pain that those present could only watch. How can they comfort someone who had lost all he had?

"They poisoned our supplies. Our seal masters and sensors all of them dead before they knew it. Then they disabled our barriers from the inside and opened our gates to our enemies. Five thousand Uzushio soldiers against an invading force of fifteen thousand shinobi.

We killed the traitors; they deserved nothing less. We killed them so brutally that I am still horrified by what I had done. But once revenge was gone, what else did we have? Once again we were lost without a purpose. We stayed together because we were family and tried to start over. To live in the memory of our comrades but, that's the hardest thing I have ever tried. For the next year, we wandered with no aim in mind. There was nothing left and starting over was… we tried but ultimately we failed.

That's when our spy network caught onto the rumors of a group of missing-nin. We only checked them out of pure curiosity since it's not every day that an S class missing-nin from different countries come together like that. Took some time but we figured out that they were targeting the jinchuuriki…"

Ryu looked down and chuckled ruefully, "And until that moment I hadn't thought about the Kyuubi… I had buried Konoha along with the memories of my sister. It was only when I heard that they were targeting jinchuuriki did I even wonder about what exactly happened to the Kyuubi…"

Hiruzen, Orochimaru and Danzo understood what the man was saying.

"I rushed here thinking that if there was a jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi I should help them out, right? I mean the Kyuubi had always been the burden of the Uzumaki and if a non-Uzumaki was the jinchuuriki they would need help.

And then I saw him…"

A tear slipped out of Ryu's closed eyes and no one said anything. He had lived for six years not even knowing that his sister had a child; a child that had grown up alone because he didn't think about it.

"I couldn't… I couldn't face him… I couldn't face anyone!"

"It was not your fault Uzumaki-san…"

Ryu looked up at Orochimaru. He understood logically that he was not at fault because he didn't know but the guilt needed no logic.

"I ran back to my friends and told them about Naruto. We thought that coming back to Konoha was the best option but then what would happen to the other jinchuuriki? In a way, they were our responsibility as well. Because even today every jinchuuriki seal there exists is an Uzumaki seal or a variation of it. And if this Organization was targeting the jinchuuriki for whatever reason, we had to stop them."

"What more can you tell me about this organization, Uzumaki-kun?" Hiruzen asked frowning. An organization after jinchuuriki was not a good thing.

"They are called the Akatsuki. I know that they have something to do with the civil war in Kiri but we're not sure what. There is a chance that they are also behind the Kyuubi attacked seven years ago. Their base is in Ame. The number of members is unknown but we do know that Yakushi Kabuto is a part of the organization."

Everyone quieted at the news.

"Will the other Uzumaki be coming to Konoha as well?"

Ryu shook his head, "No, they won't, at least not until the Akatsuki is gone. Right now the nine of us are assigned one jinchuuriki each. It is our duty to protect the jinchuuriki under our care."

"So they would be joining the other villages?" Hiruzen asked.

Ryu sneered, "No. Do you think that they would even consider joining Kumo or Iwa when they were the ones that ended our home? They would protect the jinchuuriki from the shadows by tracking the movements of the Akatsuki and reinforcing the seals; forcefully if they have to. They would not join any other village. When this is settled they will come to Konoha, if you can provide them asylum…"

Hiruzen nodded, "Uzumakis are always welcome in Konoha, Uzumaki-kun."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

"So you are here to protect Naruto?" Orochimaru asked.

Ryu shook his head, "Not yet. First I need to take care of Arashi… You did a foolish move by announcing that the boy was my child."

Hiruzen smiled grimly at the accusation, "At the time there were no other options, Uzumaki-san. But tell me why do you need to take Arashi away with you?"

"Well he will get his memories back soon and I need to get him to that lady before that happens and he has a mental break down…"

Everyone looks confused and a little bit alarmed at what Ryu said.

"We do not understand what you are saying. How do you know that he is going to get back his memories? And which lady are you talking about?"

Ryu looked at everyone confused, "You don't know?"

"Know what, Uzumaki-san?"

"Oh come on!" Ryu groaned, "That old man said that you would know! How the hell am I supposed to explain this crazy story to you?"

"This is getting more and more confusing, Uzumaki-san."

Ryu totally agreed with what Hiruzen said and then sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I know; what that old man told me; but promise me you wouldn't label me crazy."

That statement only increased the three's confusion but in the end, they agreed.

"Remember the only reason that I am telling you this is because I have been spying on the three of you for one month and I know that you love those boys. I can trust you with this knowledge for that reason alone," Ryu sighed, "After we decided to separate in order to look after the jinchuuriki, I was heading my way to Konoha. Then one of my contacts in Earth country sent me a missive. I met him at a bar in Earth country and he told me that there was a Royal Uzumaki in Konoha. My first thought was that it was Naruto and he had awakened his bloodline. But then he told me the kid was only five and was declared as the son of Uzumaki Ryu; Uzumaki Kushina's twin brother. Imagine my surprise when I had a five-year-old son out of nowhere! He told me that the Iwa spies informed the Tsuchikage that Uzumaki Ryu; who had been declared dead nine years ago, mind you; had a child with an unknown Namikaze woman and that the child had the Royal Uzumaki bloodline."

Ryu rubbed his forehead remembering the headache that had caused him. He had spent nights thinking about whether he had a drunken affair with a Namikaze woman and had forgotten about it because to his knowledge there was no woman during his revenge and grief period. Moreover, every Uzumaki shinobi had a seal applied to then during the induction into their ninja career that made sure that there would be no offspring from couplings. It was easy to deactivate the seal if they ever wanted a child but ever since Ryu had become a shinobi his seal had remained active. He had double and triple checked the seal to make sure that there was no mistake.

And for the life of him, he couldn't even remember one Namikaze woman that he had met that he had sex with. He had met some Namikaze of course; it was inevitable during his wandering but the only Namikaze woman he had met was old enough to be his grandmother. So where did this kid come from?

There was the added trouble that his 'dead' status was put on hold because a guy who died nine years ago couldn't have a five-year-old child.

"I came to the conclusion that this might have been done purposefully. But then I thought about why would there be the need to do that? And where did the kid come from? Because Kushina and I were the last of the Royal line and Kushina died and the kid definitely wasn't mine. So what was going on?

I was a week away from Konoha and staying in a small cabin in Wave when that man just came out of nowhere."

Hiruzen and the others looked on in interest when they saw the look on Ryu's face.

"He looked like a very old man but there was something… so very powerful about that man. He came and dropped this unconscious woman on my bed."

"An unconscious woman?" Orochimaru asked dubiously because an old man just appearing out of nowhere to drop an unconscious woman in your bed sounded a bit creepy.

Ryu nodded, "That was my reaction too…"

"And who was this old man?"

"He never told me his name just told me a story…" Ryu said sighing.

"A story?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ryu took a deep breath, "He told me the story of a boy and a demon. He told me the story of a world where Uzumaki Kushina had no twin brother; a world where when Uzushio ended there was only one true Uzumaki left behind. And the boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto; a blond haired blue eyed child that was the legacy of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato… "

Everyone looked confused and curious as the man spoke.

"The day Naruto was born the nine-tailed demon attacked his village. His father; a heroic man and leader; made his son the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi to save the village. His last wish was for his son to be seen as a hero. The village ignored his wish and treated the boy as the monster that destroyed their lives. Naruto grew up alone with his only precious people being his Jiji and an academy instructor. As he grew, he made friends and more connections; people started believing in him when he saved the village from the Ichibi and they started worshipping him when he saved the village from the wielder of the legendary rinnegan. At sixteen, he was thrust into a war where the entire Shinobi world was pitted against a resurrected monster. He united the great five nations and every shinobi wore the same headband declaring them as simply; Shinobi. He became the commander of the allied Shinobi forces. Along the way, he gained the love of the demon that he housed. They fought against the Mother of All Biju and in the end they won."

Orochimaru, Danzo, and Hiruzen stared wide-eyed at the story; as good as this story was it was only fictional… What was the purpose of telling them this?

"But just when they thought the war was over; an enemy that had been waiting for the opportunity strikes. The madman who wanted the world to suffer became the jinchuuriki of the jubi and the only thing that he was lacking was the power of the Kyuubi. Once again they were thrown into war but this time their enemy had the upper hand. Their soldiers were taken out through deceit and treachery until their numbers thinned to a handful and their chances of victory had been erased. They fought to survive but in the end, they too succumbed. Naruto was left alive and the madman made him watch as he slowly tore apart his loved ones and he tortured Naruto so horribly that the once strong hero and protector had crumbled to ashes.

The boy suffered for a year under inhumane torture when the Kyuubi finally found a way to save him.

The Kyuubi summoned a being of Power over Time and Space. The demon begged the being to save its kit and give him a new chance at life.

There was a price to be paid of course. The Kyuubi would vanish from existence and the boy would be given a second chance in a new world. But the being wouldn't choose where Naruto ended up in. It would depend on the fates whether the boy would be thrust into a new world full of misery or one with happiness.

The demon paid the price and Naruto was given a second chance.

He ended up in a world where Uzumaki Kushina has a twin brother and the destruction of Uzushio left behind ten true Uzumaki. He ended up in a world where Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's Legacy is a red-haired, violet-eyed boy named Uzumaki Naruto."

Ryu looked at the three faces when they finally caught onto what he was implying. He stared impassively at their disbelieving stare and continued,

"But there can't be two Uzumaki Naruto in the same world and the man-turned-child became Uzumaki Arashi. His memories were sealed so that the child can adjust to the new world without having his older memories blind him; prevent him from seeing that this world is different."

The three listeners looked at Ryu with wide disbelieving eyes.

"So you're saying that Arashi is actually Naruto…" Orochimaru paused, "From a different world?"

Ryu shrugged, "I never told you that. I just told you the story that Old man told me. Believing it or not is up to you."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Do you believe this?" Hiruzen asked.

"I do," Ryu said confidently, "You haven't met that man, the moment you see him it's like facing a God… Maybe he is a God, who knows. But what I do know is that he didn't lie… Don't ask me how, but I believe every word he said."

Hiruzen sighed, "So what about that woman?"

Ryu frowned, "I don't know who she is. All I can tell you is that she has all the classic Namikaze features; golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes and the pale skin. She hasn't woken up ever since I've seen her and keeps mumbling for 'Naruto' in her sleep. The old man said that Arashi; for that is who he is now; and the woman, they need each other to survive. I was thinking about her when I talked about my 'wife'."

"This is unbelievable…" Danzo mumbled, "But in a way, it solves the mystery that is Arashi Uzumaki…"

"He said that Arashi's memories will return by the end of this month; that is in four days," Ryu said seriously, "If that does happen while he is in Konoha, he will be overwhelmed. And whoever that woman is she will be the only one capable of handling Naruto…"

"What is none of this is true?" Orochimaru asked, "What if we're being played by this Old man and mysterious woman? I don't… I can't go forward with this idea! Uzumaki-san, what if they need Arashi out of this village and they're tricking you to do it? What if you're…"

Ryu scoffed at the look on Orochimaru's face, "What if I am in on this scheme to kidnap Arashi too? Isn't that what you meant to say?"

Ryu leaned back in his seat, "Then one of you can come with me. I know you don't believe any of this… It's unbelievable I know. But there is another thing that the old man said… He said that all that makes him 'Uzumaki Naruto' will be changed by now."

"What do you mean by that?" Orochimaru asked.

"I have no idea. All he said is that Arashi couldn't bear any similarities to the Naruto of this dimension. His looks were already different from our Naruto so they didn't change." Ryu says confused as to what was left to change.

Orochimaru's eyes widened, "His DNA…"

Ryu took a moment to figure out what he meant by that time Hiruzen spoke.

"Their DNA is the only thing that makes him identical now. Both of them are children of Kushina and Minato. If what you're telling us is the truth, Arashi's DNA would have changed by now. So if we can look into that we can prove whether this 'Old Man' was telling the truth. And if he was, I'll allow you to take Arashi with you to Wave."

Hiruzen gave a pointed look at Orochimaru. Orochimaru nodded and disappeared from the room.

"Now while my student checks it, Uzumaki-san, tell me more about that organization…"

* * *

Half an hour later, Orochimaru was back inside the Hokage's chamber. His expression was one of surprise and disbelief as he handed over the report to the Hokage.

The Hokage looked at the papers and laid it on the table for the other two to see. Danzo also gazed at it in disbelief.

Ryu took a look at the papers confused, "Aren't these the papers you three forged to say that Arashi was my son?"

Orochimaru looked at the man seriously, "No… These are the new test results…"

Ryu's eyes widened and he looked over the papers once more.

Orochimaru drawled in a monotone voice, "I think congratulations are in order Uzumaki-san, you now have a five-year-old son…"

Ryu carded his hand through his short hair with a scoff and said, "I don't even know why I am surprised anymore…"

A month ago when Orochimaru had conducted the tests on Arashi; at first to know his origins and later to confirm the first result; there had been only one result that had been mocking them all. Arashi Uzumaki was the five-year-old son of Kushina and Minato. They had tested it repeatedly to make sure that there are no mistakes but the answer had remained the same. Now a month later when Orochimaru conducted the test once more the result once again mocked him. Arashi Uzumaki was the son of Ryu Uzumaki and an unknown Namikaze female. Even after five tests, the answer remained the same. The only relation Arashi had to Naruto was through Kushina who was currently, Arashi's aunt.

Hiruzen sighed, "So I am assuming that if we conducted a test on that mysterious woman, she will most likely be Arashi's mother…"

Ryu gulped, he was a father now? An uncle, he could handle but a father! Oh, God!

"Well, at least this proves that I am right…"

Orochimaru chuckled tinged with a slight edge of hysteria and Danzo looked at them with pity. He heard Hiruzen mumble,

"I am too old for this…"


	10. Chapter 10

**To Live Again**

 **Memories**

Arashi opened his eyes when he felt cold hands slither along his neck.

Everything was black, there was no light and his heart felt heavy with dread. Suddenly there was a grip on his shoulder and Arashi jumped startled but there was no one behind him. Yet the phantom grip on his shoulder remained.

Arashi was afraid. The darkness was looming as if to swallow him whole.

Then the images began to appear.  
The first one to appear was a brunette chunin with a scar across his nose. Arashi felt an overbearing affection for the man. The man smiled at him and beckoned him closer, Arashi trusted the man for reasons even he didn't understand and moved closer to him and let the man embrace him. It was warm and loving but Arashi could feel something wet soaking his chest and dripping onto the ground as the man said,  
"I am glad that I got the chance to know you, to teach you..." the man coughed weakly and Arashi wanted to know what was wrong with him. The man slumped forward and only then did Arashi pull back to see the gaping hole in the man's chest that he had somehow failed to notice earlier. Arashi felt mind numbing agony when he discovered that the man was dead. He took a step back from the corpse, clutching his chest as he felt a phantom pain, only to bump into another man.

This time it was a man with silver hair stained with blood. Half of the man's face was red with blood flowing from an empty eye socket and his one grey eye looked at Arashi in pain. The man fell to the ground and Arashi clutched at him as he spoke, "I am sorry, I failed you again... The camp is d-destroyed... I couldn't do anyth-thing. I am sorry..."  
Arashi felt desperation crawl up his chest but no words made it past his lips and Arashi could only watch as the man died without knowing that Arashi forgave him for whatever he thought he had done. Now Arashi was standing in the empty space with two corpses.

More and more images formed, a pink-haired medic, the avenger with the sharingan eyes, and a long-haired brunette with the Byakugan, one after the other they appeared in their dying moments until Arashi was standing broken in a field of corpses. Some had apologized for leaving him, some wanted him to save the world, some were desperate and begging him to save them and some silently accepted their fate all the while looking at Arashi with pity because they knew that he would be the one left behind with the memories, but in the end, all of them died.

The phantom grip on his shoulder became painful and he was pulled back against a firm chest and a malicious voice mocked,  
"I win, Naru-chan and now you suffer..."

* * *

Arashi didn't scream as he woke up, he just opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling blankly. There were drying tear tracks on his cheeks and his eyes were swollen and red but his face remained blank as his gaze was fixated on the beige ceiling. No one was there to witness as those bright eyes dulled under memories that he didn't understand yet, but could torture him all the same.

Naruto looked at the red-haired man with wide eyes. Orochimaru and Hiruzen stood beside the boy silently while Naruto was taking in the news that had been dumped on him.  
"You're Rashi-kun's father?" Naruto asked tentatively.

Ryu nodded softly, as much as he wanted to tell Naruto that he was Naruto's uncle as well, the boy was a bit too young for such information. One slip up will paint another target on to him. That was another reason that Arashi needed to be out of the village. Arashi was bringing too much attention and it wouldn't be good if someone went and dug a little deeper to find Naruto's relation to Arashi.

Ryu watched as the expression on Naruto's face became furious as he asked, "Where were you all this time when Rashi-kun was hurt and in the hospital?"

Ryu sighed, it was endearing to see how protective Naruto was being but he also knew that it meant Naruto might not agree with their next course of actions.

"Naruto-kun, I understand your concerns and I am glad that Arashi had someone like you with him. But please understand that if it had been possible, I would've been with Arashi and protected him."

Ryu took a deep breath, lying to Naruto who looked so much like Kushina was hard but it was necessary, so Ryu told Naruto the same story he had given the council. Naruto remained silent but Ryu caught the look of fear and desperation on his face when Ryu mentioned taking Arashi back with him to wave.

"You can't..." Naruto mumbled and Ryu felt his heart break at the crack in his voice.

"I have to take Arashi with me, Naruto-kun. His mother-"

"No! Why can't you just bring his mother here?"

Ryu painfully looked away from Naruto's desperate face, "Arashi can't stay here, Naruto-kun. It's for his own good."

Naruto shook his head and tears spilled from amethyst eyes. "Why? What's wrong with Konoha?"

Ryu looked at Orochimaru desperately and the man crouched down near Naruto, "Naruto, Arashi was hurt very badly. The only reason he is acting okay is because his memories are gone."

Naruto looked at Orochimaru as he said that. Orochimaru continued once he was sure that Naruto was listening carefully.

"But soon Arashi will get his memories back... They won't be good memories Naruto, Arashi will need help but for that he would have to leave Konoha..."  
Naruto looked absolutely wrecked and the adults felt guilty to have caused the young boy such pain.

"Then take me with you!" Naruto told Ryu, surprising everyone with his determination. But that too was something they couldn't do.

If Naruto left with Ryu it would cause more suspicion on Naruto's heritage. Furthermore the council will not let Ryu take Konoha's jinchuuriki with them without a fight, it would be a messy ordeal and they wished to avoid that and none of them had any idea how Naruto's presence will affect Arashi once he gets his memories back.

"Do you wish to leave us, Naruto?" Orochimaru asked softly and Naruto was perplexed.

"I promised to protect him, Oro-chan. I promised that I would never leave him," Naruto cried softly.

He felt like they were taking a piece of his soul away. Naruto had no idea how true that was. Arashi and Naruto were connected at such a level that left their souls a part of each other by an unbreakable bond that would link them together even after death. After all, a soul mate didn't necessarily equate to lover, in this case it was the bond that made them soul mates. The God of time and space wasn't lying when he said that Naruto and Arashi would never be alone again.

It took a lot of convincing but in the end, Naruto gave in to their words.

"Naruto-kun," Naruto looked at Ryu questioningly.

"I give you my word that I will bring back Arashi to Konoha safe and sound. And he will still be your brother."

Naruto nodded sadly, he understood that this was for Arashi's own good and it was unavoidable if he wanted Arashi to remain happy. Naruto had agreed reluctantly but he wondered,

"Will Rashi-kun agree to go?"

This made the adults look at each other; they had to somehow convince Arashi as well. Luckily they didn't need to.

"I will."

All of them looked up in surprise when they heard the answer spoken in a soft voice.

Arashi was standing at the end of the hall. All of them noticed the differences in Arashi and it was disconcerting. The boy lacked any of his usual curiosity and the pleasant shy air that he always exuded. Now he looked haunted. Arashi stubbornly kept his eye averted from all of them and there was a visible tension in his body and he looked exceedingly like a scared animal.

They were concerned for Arashi and Naruto made to take a step forward but Ryu stopped him.

"Let me talk to him please," Ryu said stopping Naruto's protests.

Naruto was not pleased but Ryu was Rashi-kun's father even if Rashi-kun had no memory. He deserved a chance to speak to his son after such a long time. So Naruto stepped back.

Ryu moved towards Arashi who tensed and looked ready to bolt. But somehow Arashi stood his ground. He didn't look up at the man even when Ryu knelt before him.  
"Shall we go somewhere else to speak, Arashi?"

This caused Arashi to look up in surprise.

Sapphire met sky blue, and Arashi knew that the man understood more than the others did at that moment. His chakra resonated with the man's in a way that made it clear that there was a very close relation between them. He had heard everything that they had told Naruto and he knew that they were only half-truths at best. But his chakra told him that the man before him was right. The connection between them was true. But Arashi also knew that something had changed within him fundamentally, that he was different somehow.

Another thing was that Arashi could not sense the man's emotions at all. His emotions were blissfully silent and Arashi contemplated on whether that was a good thing. None the less, Orochimaru and Hiruzen trusted this man and Arashi trusted them despite the fact that he found it hard to even look at them right now. He wanted to get out of here; it felt like their emotions were choking him. And every time he looked at them, what he saw was blood stained images that terrified him. So when the man asked that question, Arashi said yes.

* * *

They sat on top of the Hokage Mountain.  
It was silent up here and Arashi enjoyed the silence. There were no blood-stained visions or suffocating emotions here.

"Are you really my father?"

Ryu looked at Arashi calmly, "What do you think?"

Arashi looked at the man, "I am confused," he admitted, "My chakra resonates with yours and I think we're very closely related. I am unsure about how close that relation is..."

Ryu nodded, "As of this morning I am your father."

Arashi frowned not really understand what Ryu meant.  
 _'As of this morning', what does he mean by that?_

"In due time, I will explain everything to you. It will be easier to understand once you get your memories back..."  
Arashi remembers bloody fields, empty eye sockets and hollowed chest cavities. His throat feels thick and that suffocating sensation is back.

"I," he chokes out, "I don't want to remember."

Ryu looks at him in concern, "Arashi?"

Arashi is trying desperately to forget those images. He is afraid that anymore of those memories will cost him his sanity.

He is not entirely wrong.

But there is another part of him that wants to remember, because all those people who died, they meant something to him and memories of them deserve to be cherished. But that part is very small and Arashi is afraid to face the rest of his memories.

"Arashi-kun," Ryu's concerned expression registers in his mind and his mind latches on to the distraction from those memories.

"Why can't I sense any of your emotions?"

He blurts out the question that had come to his mind.

Ryu's eyes are wide as he comprehends the question, "You can sense emotions? Since when?"

Ryu is concerned and Arashi wonders why.

Ryu sighs when he sees the confusion in Arashi's face, "Arashi, emotion sensing is very dangerous to the user. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by any strong emotion from people around you."

Arashi frowns, "That didn't happen to me"

"That's because your ability is new. The more you use it, the more it grows in power. It reaches a point where you'll be able to sense every minute emotion everyone feels. People have been driven insane by it."

Arashi nods thoughtfully, "You seem to know a lot about it..."

Ryu chuckles, "I had to know since I am an emotion sensor as well."

Arashi looks at Ryu wide-eyed, "How did you control it?"

"There is a seal for that," Ryu taps his wrist where an intricate seal suddenly becomes visible. Arashi looks at it curiously and Ryu painfully remembers that this innocence might not remain after Arashi's memories return.

"I will put the seal on you tonight,"

Arashi nods, "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning itself,"

Ryu watches the expression on Arashi's face and frowns.

"What's wrong?"

Arashi fidgeted, "Is it possible for us to leave tonight?"

Ryu was taken aback by the question, "Why?"

Arashi looked down silently. Ryu sighed when he got no answer, "Alright," he said finally.

Arashi gave him a melancholic yet thankful look and Ryu's heart clenched. It was obvious that the boy didn't want to leave so soon, but it was also obvious that he couldn't stay for some reason; most probably because of his memories might be starting to return.

Ryu looked at the image of the village wondering when will be the next time he sees it.

"You said that my memories are returning…"

Ryu looked at Arashi when the boy spoke quietly, "Yes."

Arashi kept his eyes down, "I had a dream last night… It made no sense, but I know that they are part of my memory."

Ryu felt a little worried at that. He thought he had a week left before Arashi's memories started coming back.

"What did you see?" Ryu asked almost dreading that answer.

"Death… Everyone died…"

"Arashi…" Ryu mumbles softly when he sees the tears.

After a moment of indecision he pulls the younger boy closer in a hug. Arashi tenses for a second before giving in and almost melting into the hug. The way Ryu's chakra cocooned him made him feel like he was safe from the world and the bloody memories.

"Every time I look at someone, all I see is blood and dead bodies everywhere. Every time I sense a chakra signature that even remotely feels familiar, for reasons I don't know, I imagine them dying before me… I feel like I'll go insane if I stay in this place any longer. It's as if this whole village is a giant grave to me… I don't understand what's going on…"

Ryu hears the trembling words and his heart clenches and he knows that things will only get harder for the boy who was his son now. Even if Arashi hadn't been his son, Ryu would've helped him. The fact that the kid had Uzumaki blood in his veins was enough of a reason to protect him but now he felt a deeper connection. Arashi too had lost everyone like Ryu had, but obviously Ryu had ended up luckier. Ryu still had friends and family left; he wasn't tortured for years on end.

But right now Ryu had an opportunity to give Arashi a family and he would do just that but the first thing that needed to be done was to save the boy from his memories.

"We'll leave tonight after I put the seal on you," Ryu felt Arashi relax in his hold, "They will understand."

That night, Ryu left Konoha with Arashi.

* * *

Naruto stood at the gates gazing into the distance where Arashi and Ryu had disappeared.

"Naru,"

Naruto looked at Orochimaru who spoke. It was then that Orochimaru noticed that the boy was crying.

"He will come back, right Oro-chan?"

Orochimaru's eyes turned sad when he heard the amount of desperation in the young boy's words, "Yes Naru. When the year is over Arashi will come back to you."

Naruto nodded sadly.

* * *

"Here we are," Ryu said softly as he looked at the tired boy standing near him.

The travel to wave took them only three days thanks to Ryu's summons. Along the way more and more of Arashi's memories began appearing.

Arashi looked tired and pale. He flinched away from the slightest of movements and Ryu had to use his chakra to calm the boy down every time. Had it not been for the Uzumaki chakra that connected them, Ryu wondered if he would have succeeded in calming the boy down after each nightmare fueled by his memories. Arashi was still vastly confused by the memories because to him they made no sense yet but that sadly didn't reduce the trauma. It was only a matter of time before Arashi's memories become complete and then…

Ryu didn't want to think about it.

They were standing in front of a cottage in Wave country. This was where Ryu had left the blonde woman. She had been unconscious when he had left but the old man had said that she would be fine when he returned from Konoha. He wanted to leave at least some clones to guard her but the Old man said it was unnecessary and Ryu trusted the man.

Ryu was about to knock when the door flung open and the blonde woman stood in the doorway. She had all the classic Namikaze features that Ryu had described. Her golden blonde hair, a shade similar to Arashi's, was left open and it reached her knees. There was a slight waviness to her hair that was also very similar to Arashi. Then her beautiful sapphire orbs that were darker than Arashi's. Her face had a delicate beautiful look that was breathtaking. And anyone would be able to tell from appearance alone that Arashi was related to her. She was only slightly shorter than Ryu, that still left her taller than an average woman and she was lean with a figure that wasn't too voluptuous but had enough curves to make most women jealous. She took a step towards them.

Arashi flinched and hid against Ryu's side. The woman paused and looked down at the boy and her eyes became clouded with sadness and relief and joy.

"Naru…"

Ryu sighed when Arashi just looked at the woman confused. She ignored Ryu as she crouched down in front of Arashi.

"Naru-chan?" She looked and sounded desperate and Ryu wondered who exactly she was. The old man hadn't told him about any Namikaze woman that had been related to Arashi in his previous life, and it was obvious that she was from his previous life as well seeing as she called him 'Naru'.

Arashi took a tentative step towards the woman, his eyes flickered to Ryu questioningly and that's when the woman too paid him attention. Ryu saw her become slightly wary and the amount of protectiveness that entered her eyes was scary.

Her attention was diverted when Arashi questioned softly, "Who are you? Why are you calling me Naru?"

The woman looked at him astonished, "You don't remember me?"

Arashi shook his head and winced when she cringed at the knowledge.

"I…" Arashi began confused as to what to say to the sad lady. The woman saw this and shook her head with sad smile. She softly cupped the boy's face with one delicate hand and Ryu was surprised when Arashi leaned into the touch. The woman smiled and Arashi wondered why her touch was so familiar yet so foreign.

"It's alright, kit…"

Arashi flinched back as if struck. And the woman only barely caught him before he hit the ground. Arashi stared at her with wide eyes deaf to the questions from both Ryu and the woman.

"Kurama…"


End file.
